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Mechanisms of intron gain and loss in Drosophila

Yenerall, P and Krupa, B and Zhou, L (2011) Mechanisms of intron gain and loss in Drosophila. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11 (1).

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Abstract

Background: It is widely accepted that orthologous genes have lost or gained introns throughout evolution. However, the specific mechanisms that generate these changes have proved elusive. Introns are known to affect nearly every level of gene expression. Therefore, understanding their mechanism of evolution after their initial fixation in eukaryotes is pertinent to understanding the means by which organisms develop greater regulation and complexity. Results: To investigate possible mechanisms of intron gain and loss, we identified 189 intron gain and 297 intron loss events among 11 Drosophila species. We then investigated these events for signatures of previously proposed mechanisms of intron gain and loss. This work constitutes the first comprehensive study into the specific mechanisms that may generate intron gains and losses in Drosophila. We report evidence of intron gain via transposon insertion; the first intron loss that may have occurred via non-homologous end joining; intron gains via the repair of a double strand break; evidence of intron sliding; and evidence that internal or 5' introns may not frequently be deleted via the self-priming of reverse transcription during mRNA-mediated intron loss. Our data also suggest that the transcription process may promote or result in intron gain. Conclusion: Our findings support the occurrence of intron gain via transposon insertion, repair of double strand breaks, as well as intron loss via non-homologous end joining. Furthermore, our data suggest that intron gain may be enabled by or due to transcription, and we shed further light on the exact mechanism of mRNA-mediated intron loss. © 2011 Yenerall et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.


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Details

Item Type: Article
Status: Published
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Yenerall, P
Krupa, B
Zhou, LLeming.Zhou@pitt.eduLZHOU10000-0003-4398-0267
Date: 20 December 2011
Date Type: Publication
Journal or Publication Title: BMC Evolutionary Biology
Volume: 11
Number: 1
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-364
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Biological Sciences
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Computer Science
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences > Health Information Management
Swanson School of Engineering > Bioengineering
Refereed: Yes
Date Deposited: 01 Nov 2016 17:04
Last Modified: 19 Dec 2019 03:55
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29982

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