[Structural characteristics of osteopontin mRNA]

Conservatism of primary and secondary structure of osteopontin mRNA in vertebrates of various taxes was studied using computer analysis and blot-hybridization procedure. Relatively high rate of evolution of a nucleotide sequence of osteopontin gene was revealed. Formation of hairpin-loop structures by adjacent sequences and a high content of AU-pairs indicate more flexible structure of the mammalian osteopontin mRNA as compared with the avian one. It has been detected some AU-enriched regions in 3'-terminal untranslated sequences, which presence is characteristic for short-lived mRNA. Evolutionary conserved subsequences in 3'- and 5'-terminal regions were suggested to be determinants of RNA-protein interaction in cytoplasm.