Small nuclear RNAs from budding yeasts: phylogenetic comparisons reveal extensive size variation

Homologues of each of the five metazoan snRNAs required for pre-mRNA splicing have recently been identified in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the basis of shared structural elements and evidence of similar roles during splicing. However, the spliceosomal snRNAs in this yeast are up to six times larger than their mammalian counterparts, suggesting that they may perform additional, perhaps species-specific, functions in the pre-mRNA processing pathway. We have undertaken a survey of 23 other budding yeasts to determine whether increased snRNA size is unique to Sacch. cerevisiae and, if not, to look for common structural motifs among homologous snRNAs. Our studies reveal that the spliceosomal snRNAs exhibit a surprising degree of size variation among these species. Furthermore, partial sequence analysis has identified a specific domain in the U6 snRNA which accounts for the observed size polymorphisms.