A conserved core structure in the 18-25S rRNA intergenic region from tobacco, Nicotiana rustica

To identify conserved and functionally important features in the intergenic sequences of ribosomal DNAs, the nucleotide sequence of the 18-25S rRNA intergene region in tobacco rDNA was determined and compared to that of other higher plants. Unlike previous comparisons of more diverse organisms, sufficient sequence homology is retained in the higher plants to examine the evolutionary changes which make these regions diverse. Estimates of the secondary structure permit the identification of a 'core-like' structure which appears to maintain the processed sites in close proximity and can be identified in the more divergent sequences.