Splicing of an intervening sequence by protein-free human snRNAs

Significant structural and mechanistic similarities between the spliceosomal snRNAs and catalytically critical domains of self-splicing group II introns have led to the hypothesis that the spliceosomes and group II introns may be evolutionarily related. We have previously shown that in vitro-transcr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:RNA biology 2011-05, Vol.8 (3), p.372-377
Main Authors: Jaladat, Yasaman, Zhang, Bing, Mohammadi, Afshin, Valadkhan, Saba
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base Sequence
Binding
Biology
Bioscience
Brief Communication
Calcium
Cancer
Cell
Cycle
Humans
Introns
Landes
Molecular Sequence Data
Nucleic Acid Conformation
Organogenesis
Proteins
RNA Splicing
RNA, Catalytic - chemistry
RNA, Catalytic - metabolism
RNA, Small Nuclear - chemistry
RNA, Small Nuclear - metabolism
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Summary:Significant structural and mechanistic similarities between the spliceosomal snRNAs and catalytically critical domains of self-splicing group II introns have led to the hypothesis that the spliceosomes and group II introns may be evolutionarily related. We have previously shown that in vitro-transcribed, protein-free U6 and U2 snRNAs can catalyze a two-step splicing reaction in trans on two short RNA oligonucleotides that is identical to the splicing reactions performed by many self-splicing group II introns. Here we show that the same two snRNAs can perform splicing in cis by removal of an intervening sequence from a model substrate. These results prove that the protein-free snRNAs are competent to perform splicing on pre-mRNAs and further strengthen the possibility of an evolutionary relationship to group II introns.
ISSN:1547-6286
1555-8584
DOI:10.4161/rna.8.3.15386