Danks Gemma, Thompson Eric M
Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology; University of Bergen ; Bergen, Norway.
Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology; University of Bergen ; Bergen, Norway ; Department of Biology; University of Bergen ; Bergen, Norway.
Worm. 2015 Jun 17;4(3):e1046030. doi: 10.1080/21624054.2015.1046030. eCollection 2015 Jul-Sep.
The trans-splicing of a spliced-leader RNA to a subset of mRNAs is a phenomenon that occurs in many species, including Caenorhabditis elegans, and yet the driving force for its evolution in disparate groups of animals remains unclear. Polycistronic mRNA resulting from the transcription of operons is resolved via trans-splicing, but operons comprise only a sub-set of trans-spliced genes. Using the marine chordate, Oikopleura dioica, we recently tested the hypothesis that metazoan operons accelerate recovery from growth arrest. We found no supporting evidence for this in O. dioica. Instead we found a striking relationship between trans-splicing and maternal mRNA in O. dioica, C. elegans and the ascidian, Ciona intestinalis. Furthermore, in O. dioica and C. elegans, we found evidence to suggest a role for mTOR signaling in the translational control of growth-related, trans-spliced maternal mRNAs. We propose that this may be a mechanism for adjusting egg number in response to nutrient levels in these species.
剪接前导RNA与一部分mRNA的反式剪接是一种在包括秀丽隐杆线虫在内的许多物种中都存在的现象,然而其在不同动物群体中进化的驱动力仍不清楚。操纵子转录产生的多顺反子mRNA通过反式剪接得以解析,但操纵子仅构成反式剪接基因的一个子集。利用海洋脊索动物双鳍鲎,我们最近测试了后生动物操纵子加速从生长停滞中恢复的假说。在双鳍鲎中我们没有找到支持这一假说的证据。相反,我们发现双鳍鲎、秀丽隐杆线虫和海鞘肠鳃纲动物中反式剪接与母体mRNA之间存在显著关系。此外,在双鳍鲎和秀丽隐杆线虫中,我们发现有证据表明mTOR信号在与生长相关的反式剪接母体mRNA的翻译控制中发挥作用。我们提出,这可能是这些物种中一种根据营养水平调整卵数量的机制。