Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

Complex spliceosomal organization ancestral to extant eukaryotes.

Lesley Collins1, David Penny

  • 1Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. L.J.Collins@massey.ac.nz

Molecular Biology and Evolution
|January 22, 2005
PubMed
Summary

The spliceosome, crucial for RNA splicing in eukaryotes, was surprisingly complex in the last common ancestor, containing most core components and functions seen today. Minor splicing (U12-dependent) is not evident in this ancestral spliceosome.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

TESTING METHODS OF EVOLUTIONARY TREE CONSTRUCTION.

Cladistics : the international journal of the Willi Hennig Society·2021
Same author

Improving phylogenetic inference of core Chlorophyta using chloroplast sequences with strong phylogenetic signals and heterogeneous models.

Molecular phylogenetics and evolution·2018
Same author

Effects of Pressure and pH on the Hydrolysis of Cytosine: Implications for Nucleotide Stability around Deep-Sea Black Smokers.

Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology·2017
Same author

Phylogenetics: Tertiary protein structures needed.

Nature ecology & evolution·2017
Same author

Genomic Scans across Three Eucalypts Suggest that Adaptation to Aridity is a Genome-Wide Phenomenon.

Genome biology and evolution·2017
Same author

Does the Ribosome Challenge our Understanding of the RNA World?

Journal of molecular evolution·2016
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • The spliceosome is a large molecular machine responsible for removing introns from pre-mRNAs in eukaryotes.
  • Its evolution and complexity in early eukaryotes are not fully understood.
  • Intron length has increased in multicellular eukaryotes, suggesting spliceosome evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To infer the properties of the spliceosome in the last common eukaryotic ancestor.
  • To test the hypothesis that spliceosome complexity increased throughout eukaryotic evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of spliceosomal protein components across diverse basal eukaryotic lineages.
  • Inference of ancestral spliceosome composition and function based on present-day distribution.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • The spliceosome in the eukaryotic ancestor likely contained most core components found in extant eukaryotes, including all small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) proteins.
  • Both major and trans-splicing were likely present, with connections to transcription and capping.
  • No evidence supports the presence of minor (U12-dependent) splicing in the eukaryotic ancestor.

Conclusions:

  • The ancestral spliceosome was already highly complex, challenging the notion of gradual increase in complexity throughout evolution.
  • Most fundamental splicing machinery and functions were established early in eukaryotic evolution.
  • The study provides insights into the early molecular architecture of eukaryotes but does not address the 'first eukaryote'.