FB2025_02 , released April 17, 2025
Reference Report
Open Close
Reference
Citation
Farlow, A., Meduri, E., Dolezal, M., Hua, L., Schlötterer, C. (2010). Nonsense-mediated decay enables intron gain in Drosophila.  PLoS Genet. 6(1): e1000819.
FlyBase ID
FBrf0209871
Publication Type
Research paper
Abstract
Intron number varies considerably among genomes, but despite their fundamental importance, the mutational mechanisms and evolutionary processes underlying the expansion of intron number remain unknown. Here we show that Drosophila, in contrast to most eukaryotic lineages, is still undergoing a dramatic rate of intron gain. These novel introns carry significantly weaker splice sites that may impede their identification by the spliceosome. Novel introns are more likely to encode a premature termination codon (PTC), indicating that nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) functions as a backup for weak splicing of new introns. Our data suggest that new introns originate when genomic insertions with weak splice sites are hidden from selection by NMD. This mechanism reduces the sequence requirement imposed on novel introns and implies that the capacity of the spliceosome to recognize weak splice sites was a prerequisite for intron gain during eukaryotic evolution.
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
PMC2809761 (PMC) (EuropePMC)
Associated Information
Comments
Associated Files
Other Information
Secondary IDs
    Language of Publication
    English
    Additional Languages of Abstract
    Parent Publication
    Publication Type
    Journal
    Abbreviation
    PLoS Genet.
    Title
    PLoS Genetics
    Publication Year
    2005-
    ISBN/ISSN
    1553-7404 1553-7390
    Data From Reference
    Genes (1)