Ogata Hiroyuki, Audic Stéphane, Abergel Chantal, Fournier Pierre-Edouard, Claverie Jean-Michel
Information Génétique & Structurale, CNRS-AVENTIS UMR 1889, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France.
Genome Res. 2002 May;12(5):808-16. doi: 10.1101/gr.227602.
Rickettsia are unique in inserting in-frame a number of palindromic sequences within protein coding regions. In this study, we extensively analyzed repeated sequences in the genome of Rickettsia conorii and examined their locations in regard to coding versus noncoding regions. We identified 656 interspersed repeated sequences classified into 10 distinct families. Of the 10 families, three palindromic sequence families showed clear cases of insertions into open reading frames (ORFs). The location of those in-frame insertions appears to be always compatible with the encoded protein three-dimensional (3-D) fold and function. We provide evidence for a progressive loss of the palindromic property over time after the insertions. This comprehensive study of Rickettsia repeats confirms and extends our previous observations and further indicates a significant role of selfish DNAs in the creation and modification of proteins.
立克次氏体的独特之处在于，其在蛋白质编码区域内以读码框形式插入了许多回文序列。在本研究中，我们广泛分析了康氏立克次氏体基因组中的重复序列，并研究了它们在编码区与非编码区的位置。我们鉴定出656个散布的重复序列，分为10个不同的家族。在这10个家族中，有三个回文序列家族显示出明显的插入开放阅读框（ORF）的情况。那些读码框内插入的位置似乎总是与所编码蛋白质的三维（3-D）折叠和功能相兼容。我们提供了证据表明插入后随着时间推移回文特性会逐渐丧失。这项对立克次氏体重复序列的全面研究证实并扩展了我们之前的观察结果，进一步表明自私DNA在蛋白质的产生和修饰中发挥着重要作用。
