title: Prevalent and distinct spliceosomal 3'-end processing mechanisms for fungal telomerase RNA.
abstract: Telomerase RNA (TER) is an essential component of the telomerase ribonucleoprotein complex. The mechanism for TER 3'-end processing is highly divergent among different organisms. Here we report a unique spliceosome-mediated TER 3'-end cleavage mechanism in Neurospora crassa that is distinct from that found specifically in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. While the S. pombe TER intron contains the canonical 5'-splice site GUAUGU, the N. crassa TER intron contains a non-canonical 5'-splice site AUAAGU that alone prevents the second step of splicing and promotes spliceosomal cleavage. The unique N. crassa TER 5'-splice site sequence is evolutionarily conserved in TERs from Pezizomycotina and early branching Taphrinomycotina species. This suggests that the widespread and basal N. crassa-type spliceosomal cleavage mechanism is more ancestral than the S. pombe-type. The discovery of a prevalent, yet distinct, spliceosomal cleavage mechanism throughout diverse fungal clades furthers our understanding of TER evolution and non-coding RNA processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry &Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry &Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Dustin P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Rand
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry &Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Podlevsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry &Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mosig
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, and Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics, University of Leipzig, D-04107 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry &Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Julian J-L
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000378:metabolism*; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D012326:RNA Splicing / Q000502:physiology; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000378:metabolism*; D017381:Spliceosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012331:RNA, Fungal; C422952:telomerase RNA; D012313:RNA; D019098:Telomerase