title: RNA Polymerase III promoter screen uncovers a novel noncoding RNA family conserved in Caenorhabditis and other clade V nematodes.
abstract: RNA Polymerase III is a highly specialized enzyme complex responsible for the transcription of a very distinct set of housekeeping noncoding RNAs including tRNAs, 7SK snRNA, Y RNAs, U6 snRNA, and the RNA components of RNaseP and RNaseMRP. In this work we have utilized the conserved promoter structure of known RNA Polymerase III transcripts consisting of characteristic sequence elements termed proximal sequence elements (PSE) A and B and a TATA-box to uncover a novel RNA Polymerase III-transcribed, noncoding RNA family found to be conserved in Caenorhabditis as well as other clade V nematode species. Homology search in combination with detailed sequence and secondary structure analysis revealed that members of this novel ncRNA family evolve rapidly, and only maintain a potentially functional small stem structure that links the 5' end to the very 3' end of the transcript and a small hairpin structure at the 3' end. This is most likely required for efficient transcription termination. In addition, our study revealed evidence that canonical C/D box snoRNAs are also transcribed from a PSE A-PSE B-TATA-box promoter in Caenorhabditis elegans.
authors.affiliation: Computational and Systems Biology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 50-70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 50-70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: agruber@tbi.univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Andreas R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Gruber
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012320:RNA Polymerase III / Q000378:metabolism*; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D022661:RNA, Untranslated; D012320:RNA Polymerase III
keywords: Caenorhabditis elegans; Noncoding RNA; Promoter elements; RNA Polymerase III