title: Functional variants of 5S rRNA in the ribosomes of common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus.
abstract: We have previously reported a molecular and cytogenetic characterization of three different 5S rDNA clusters in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus; this study, performed at DNA level only, lends itself as starting point to verify that these clusters could contain transcribed genes, then, to demonstrate the presence of heterogeneity at functional RNA level, also. In the present work we report in P. lividus ribosomes the existence of several transcribed variants of the 5S rRNA and we associate all transcribed variants to the cluster to which belong. Our finding is the first demonstration of the presence of high heterogeneity in functional 5S rRNA molecules in animal ribosomes, a feature that had been considered a peculiarity of some plants.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari e Biomolecolari (STEMBIO), Sezione di Biologia Cellulare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, V.le delle Scienze—90128 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Eufrosina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dimarco
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cascone
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bellavia
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caradonna
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019295:Computational Biology; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D047328:Paracentrotus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D012341:RNA, Ribosomal, 5S / Q000235:genetics*; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012341:RNA, Ribosomal, 5S