title: Imprecise intron losses are less frequent than precise intron losses but are not rare in plants.
abstract: In this study, we identified 19 intron losses, including 11 precise intron losses (PILs), six imprecise intron losses (IILs), one de-exonization, and one exon deletion in tomato and potato, and 17 IILs in Arabidopsis thaliana. Comparative analysis of related genomes confirmed that all of the IILs have been fixed during evolution. Consistent with previous studies, our results indicate that PILs are a major type of intron loss. However, at least in plants, IILs are unlikely to be as rare as previously reported.
  
  
  
  This article was reviewed by Jun Yu and Zhang Zhang. For complete reviews, see the Reviewers' Reports section.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Yue
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Computing Center, Beijing, 10094, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Nan
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Ran
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Heng-Yuan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.|Present address: Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China. dengkeniu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Deng-Ke
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Niu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D018745:Genome, Plant; D054643:INDEL Mutation; D007438:Introns; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; De-exonization; De-intronization; Deletion; Insertion; Intron loss; Solanum