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Characteristics of transposable element exonization within human and mouse
Noa Sela1, Britta Mersch, Agnes Hotz-Wagenblatt
1Department of Human Molecular Genetics, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Plos One
|June 10, 2010
Summary
Transposed elements in mammalian genes contribute to evolution. Exonization of these elements, particularly Alu elements, can be population-specific, potentially driving speciation and increasing transcriptome complexity.
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Transposed elements (TEs) are crucial for mammalian evolution and speciation.
- Exonization, the activation of TEs within introns as alternatively spliced exons, impacts transcriptome and proteome complexity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate evolutionary constraints on TE fixation and exonization in human and mouse protein-coding genes.
- To understand how exonization influences transcriptome and proteome complexity.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to assess population-specific exonizations.
- Comparative analysis of transposed element (TE) fixation and exonization patterns in human and mouse genomes.
- Identification of primate-specific Alu elements dependent on RNA editing.
Main Results:
- Exonization of TEs is biased towards the start of coding sequences in both human and mouse genes.
- Population-specific exonizations, identified via SNPs, suggest a role in divergence and speciation.
- Differences in SNP density were observed between Alu and other TEs.
- Primate-specific Alu elements requiring RNA editing for exonization were identified.
Conclusions:
- TE fixation and exonization are shaped by evolutionary constraints, influencing gene evolution.
- Exonization of TEs contributes to transcriptome complexity and potentially speciation.
- RNA editing plays a role in the exonization of certain primate-specific Alu elements.
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