Introns and the origin of nucleus–cytosol compartmentalization

The origin of the eukaryotic nucleus marked a seminal evolutionary transition. We propose that the nuclear envelope's incipient function was to allow mRNA splicing, which is slow, to go to completion so that translation, which is fast, would occur only on mRNA with intact reading frames. The ra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2006-03, Vol.440 (7080), p.41-45
Main Authors: Martin, William, Koonin, Eugene V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Evolution
Biological research
Cell Compartmentation - physiology
Cell nucleus
Cell Nucleus - genetics
Cell Nucleus - metabolism
Chromosomes - genetics
Chromosomes - metabolism
Cytosol
Cytosol - metabolism
Eukaryotes
Eukaryotic Cells - cytology
Eukaryotic Cells - metabolism
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Humanities and Social Sciences
hypothesis
Introns
Introns - genetics
Introns - physiology
Messenger RNA
Mitochondria - genetics
Mitochondria - metabolism
Mitochondrial DNA
Models, Biological
multidisciplinary
Nuclear Envelope - physiology
Origin
Physiological aspects
Protein Biosynthesis - genetics
Ribonucleic acid
Ribosomes - metabolism
RNA
RNA - genetics
RNA - metabolism
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Structure
Translation (Genetics)
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Summary:The origin of the eukaryotic nucleus marked a seminal evolutionary transition. We propose that the nuclear envelope's incipient function was to allow mRNA splicing, which is slow, to go to completion so that translation, which is fast, would occur only on mRNA with intact reading frames. The rapid, fortuitous spread of introns following the origin of mitochondria is adduced as the selective pressure that forged nucleus–cytosol compartmentalization. Why have a nucleus? The discovery of introns, ‘junk’ sequences of DNA in the middle of genes that are excised before the mRNA is translated into a protein, prompted some serious thinking about the early evolution of the cell. William Martin and Eugene V. Koonin this week present a new idea to explain the first evolutionary step on the road to the eukaryotic nucleus. This assumes that the initial role of the nuclear envelope was as an intracellular filter to allow splicing, which is slow, to go to completion so that translation, which is fast, occurs only on fully processed mRNA.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature04531