Patterns of 5' untranslated region length distribution in Encephalitozoon cuniculi: implications for gene regulation...

Encephalitozoon cuniculi, a eukaryotic intracellular parasite belonging to the group Microsporidia, has a highly reduced and compacted genome. Its mRNA transcripts have been found to differ between the two life stages, the spore and meront, of the parasite. Spore transcripts generally have more transcription start sites, longer 5' untranslated regions (UTRs), and overlap more frequently with upstream genes than those of meronts. A previous analysis of 31 meront gene transcripts showed that most have short 5'UTRs, and intron-containing genes, mostly ribosomal protein genes, exclusively have very short 5'UTRs. Here we analyzed a larger set of transcripts from meronts, and we find a pattern of 5'UTR length distribution similar to other reduced genomes. There is an abundance of very short 5'UTRs that are <20 bp in length, and very few 5'UTRs that are much longer. We also find a relationship between gene categories and 5'UTR length: intron-containing genes and ribosomal protein genes have exclusively short 5'UTRs. We suggest that the abundance of short 5'UTRs may be related to a class of highly expressed genes that benefit the parasite's growth cycle. Also, the longer 5'UTRs may be playing a role in down-regulating expression of genes that require temporal or environment-induced expression.