Bioinformatics Preprint 05-001
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Titel:
Evolutionary Patterns of Non-Coding RNAs
Author(s):
A.F. Bompfünewerer,
C. Flamm,
C. Fried,
G. Fritzsch,
I.L. Hofacker,
J. Lehmann,
K. Missal,
A. Mosig,
B. Müller,
S.J. Prohaska,
B.M.R. Stadler,
P.F. Stadler,
A. Tanzer,
S. Washietl,
C. Witwer
Submitted for publication in:
Th.Biosci.
Abstract:
A plethora of new functions of non-coding RNAs have been discovered in past
few years. In fact, RNA is emerging as the central player in
cellular regulation, taking on active roles in multiple regulatory layers
from transcription, RNA maturation, and RNA modification to translational
regulation. Nevertheless, very little is known about the evolution of this
``Modern RNA World'' and its components. In this contribution we attempt to
provide at least a cursory overview of the diversity of non-coding RNAs and
functional RNA motifs in non-translated regions of regular messenger RNAs
(mRNAs) with an emphasis on evolutionary questions. This survey is
complemented by an in-depth analysis of examples from different classes of
RNAs focusing mostly on their evolution in the vertebrate lineage. We
present a survey of Y RNA genes in vertebrates, studies of the molecular
evolution of the U7 snRNA, the snoRNAs E1/U17, E2, and E3, the Y RNA
family, the let-7 microRNA family, and the mRNA-like
evf-1 gene. We furthermore discuss the statistical distribution
of microRNAs in metazoans, which suggests an explosive increase in the
microRNA repertoire in vertebrates. The analysis of the transcription of
non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) suggests that small RNAs in general are
genetically mobile in the sense that their association with a hostgene
(e.g. when transcribed from introns of a mRNA) can change on evolutionary
time scales. The let-7 family demonstrates, that even the mode of
transcription (as intron or as exon) can change among paralogous ncRNA.
Keywords:
evolution, non-coding RNA, mRNA, rRNA, snRNA, snoRNA, miRNA, Y-RNA, vault RNA,
gRNA, RNA editing, UTR.
Alternative Numbers:
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