This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Huang, T.
Right arrow Articles by Blumenthal, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Huang, T.
Right arrow Articles by Blumenthal, T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2001, p. 1111-1120, Vol. 21, No. 4
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.4.1111-1120.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Intercistronic Region Required for Polycistronic Pre-mRNA Processing in Caenorhabditis elegans

Tao Huang,dagger Scott Kuersten,Dagger Atul M. Deshpande, John Spieth,§ Margaret MacMorris, and Thomas Blumenthal*

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262

Received 17 October 2000/Returned for modification 3 November 2000/Accepted 8 November 2000

In Caenorhabditis elegans, polycistronic pre-mRNAs are processed by cleavage and polyadenylation at the 3' ends of the upstream genes and trans splicing, generally to the specialized spliced leader SL2, at the 5' ends of the downstream genes. Previous studies have indicated a relationship between these two events in the processing of a heat shock-induced gpd-2-gpd-3 polycistronic pre-mRNA. Here, we report mutational analysis of the intercistronic region of this operon by linker scan analysis. Surprisingly, no sequences downstream of the 3' end were important for 3'-end formation. In contrast, a U-rich (Ur) element located 29 bp downstream of the site of 3'-end formation was shown to be important for downstream mRNA biosynthesis. This ~20-bp element is sufficient for SL2 trans splicing and mRNA accumulation when transplanted to a heterologous context. Furthermore, when the downstream gene was replaced by a gene from another organism, no loss of trans-splicing specificity was observed, suggesting that the Ur element may be the primary signal required for downstream mRNA processing.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Box B-121, 4200 E. 9th Ave., Denver CO 80262. Phone: (303) 315-8181. Fax: (303) 315-8215. E-mail: tom.blumenthal{at}uchsc.edu.

dagger Present address: Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.

Dagger Present address: Gene Expression Program, EMBL, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.

§ Present address: Genome Sequencing Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2001, p. 1111-1120, Vol. 21, No. 4
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.4.1111-1120.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Haenni, S., Sharpe, H. E., Gravato Nobre, M., Zechner, K., Browne, C., Hodgkin, J., Furger, A. (2009). Regulation of transcription termination in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Res 37: 6723-6736 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bacaj, T., Lu, Y., Shaham, S. (2008). The Conserved Proteins CHE-12 and DYF-11 Are Required for Sensory Cilium Function in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 178: 989-1002 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Graber, J. H., Salisbury, J., Hutchins, L. N., Blumenthal, T. (2007). C. elegans sequences that control trans-splicing and operon pre-mRNA processing. RNA 13: 1409-1426 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • MacMorris, M., Kumar, M., Lasda, E., Larsen, A., Kraemer, B., Blumenthal, T. (2007). A novel family of C. elegans snRNPs contains proteins associated with trans-splicing. RNA 13: 511-520 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ben-Shahar, Y., Nannapaneni, K., Casavant, T. L., Scheetz, T. E., Welsh, M. J. (2007). Eukaryotic operon-like transcription of functionally related genes in Drosophila. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 222-227 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hajarnavis, A., Durbin, R. (2006). A conserved sequence motif in 3' untranslated regions of ribosomal protein mRNAs in nematodes. RNA 12: 1786-1789 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Satou, Y., Hamaguchi, M., Takeuchi, K., Hastings, K. E. M., Satoh, N. (2006). Genomic overview of mRNA 5'-leader trans-splicing in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Nucleic Acids Res 34: 3378-3388 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Piel, J., Hui, D., Wen, G., Butzke, D., Platzer, M., Fusetani, N., Matsunaga, S. (2004). Antitumor polyketide biosynthesis by an uncultivated bacterial symbiont of the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 16222-16227 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ganot, P., Kallesoe, T., Reinhardt, R., Chourrout, D., Thompson, E. M. (2004). Spliced-Leader RNA trans Splicing in a Chordate, Oikopleura dioica, with a Compact Genome. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 7795-7805 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hajarnavis, A., Korf, I., Durbin, R. (2004). A probabilistic model of 3' end formation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Res 32: 3392-3399 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Eichmuller, S., Vezzoli, V., Bazzini, C., Ritter, M., Furst, J., Jakab, M., Ravasio, A., Chwatal, S., Dossena, S., Botta, G., Meyer, G., Maier, B., Valenti, G., Lang, F., Paulmichl, M. (2004). A New Gene-finding Tool: USING THE CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS OPERONS FOR IDENTIFYING FUNCTIONAL PARTNER PROTEINS IN HUMAN CELLS. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 7136-7146 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Liang, J., Lints, R., Foehr, M. L., Tokarz, R., Yu, L., Emmons, S. W., Liu, J., Savage-Dunn, C. (2003). The Caenorhabditis elegans schnurri homolog sma-9 mediates stage- and cell type-specific responses to DBL-1 BMP-related signaling. Development 130: 6453-6464 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kwasnicka, D. A., Krakowiak, A., Thacker, C., Brenner, C., Vincent, S. R. (2003). Coordinate Expression of NADPH-dependent Flavin Reductase, Fre-1, and Hint-related 7meGMP-directed Hydrolase, DCS-1. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 39051-39058 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • LIU, Y., KUERSTEN, S., HUANG, T., LARSEN, A., MACMORRIS, M., BLUMENTHAL, T. (2003). An uncapped RNA suggests a model for Caenorhabditis elegans polycistronic pre-mRNA processing. RNA 9: 677-687 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Webb, C. T., Shabalina, S. A., Ogurtsov, A. Yu., Kondrashov, A. S. (2002). Analysis of similarity within 142 pairs of orthologous intergenic regions of Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae. Nucleic Acids Res 30: 1233-1239 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brooks, D. R., Denise, H., Westrop, G. D., Coombs, G. H., Mottram, J. C. (2001). The Stage-regulated Expression of Leishmania mexicana CPB Cysteine Proteases Is Mediated by an Intercistronic Sequence Element. J. Biol. Chem. 276: 47061-47069 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Evans, D., Perez, I., MacMorris, M., Leake, D., Wilusz, C. J., Blumenthal, T. (2001). A complex containing CstF-64 and the SL2 snRNP connects mRNA 3' end formation and trans-splicing in C. elegans operons. Genes Dev. 15: 2562-2571 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»