A global analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans operons
- PMID: 12075352
- DOI: 10.1038/nature00831
A global analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans operons
Abstract
The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans and its relatives are unique among animals in having operons. Operons are regulated multigene transcription units, in which polycistronic pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA coding for multiple peptides) is processed to monocistronic mRNAs. This occurs by 3' end formation and trans-splicing using the specialized SL2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle for downstream mRNAs. Previously, the correlation between downstream location in an operon and SL2 trans-splicing has been strong, but anecdotal. Although only 28 operons have been reported, the complete sequence of the C. elegans genome reveals numerous gene clusters. To determine how many of these clusters represent operons, we probed full-genome microarrays for SL2-containing mRNAs. We found significant enrichment for about 1,200 genes, including most of a group of several hundred genes represented by complementary DNAs that contain SL2 sequence. Analysis of their genomic arrangements indicates that >90% are downstream genes, falling in 790 distinct operons. Our evidence indicates that the genome contains at least 1,000 operons, 2 8 genes long, that contain about 15% of all C. elegans genes. Numerous examples of co-transcription of genes encoding functionally related proteins are evident. Inspection of the operon list should reveal previously unknown functional relationships.
Comment in
-
Teamed up for transcription.Nature. 2002 Jun 20;417(6891):797-8. doi: 10.1038/417797a. Nature. 2002. PMID: 12075329 No abstract available.
Similar articles
-
Teamed up for transcription.Nature. 2002 Jun 20;417(6891):797-8. doi: 10.1038/417797a. Nature. 2002. PMID: 12075329 No abstract available.
-
Operons as a common form of chromosomal organization in C. elegans.Nature. 1994 Nov 17;372(6503):270-2. doi: 10.1038/372270a0. Nature. 1994. PMID: 7969472
-
Operon structure and trans-splicing in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus.Mol Biol Evol. 2003 Dec;20(12):2097-103. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msg225. Epub 2003 Aug 29. Mol Biol Evol. 2003. PMID: 12949121
-
RNA processing in C. elegans.Methods Cell Biol. 2011;106:187-217. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-544172-8.00007-4. Methods Cell Biol. 2011. PMID: 22118278 Review.
-
Trans-splicing and operons.WormBook. 2005 Jun 25:1-9. doi: 10.1895/wormbook.1.5.1. WormBook. 2005. PMID: 18050426 Review.
Cited by
-
Considering Caenorhabditis elegans Aging on a Temporal and Tissue Scale: The Case of Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling.Cells. 2024 Feb 5;13(3):288. doi: 10.3390/cells13030288. Cells. 2024. PMID: 38334680 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Neuronal mTORC1 inhibition promotes longevity without suppressing anabolic growth and reproduction in C. elegans.PLoS Genet. 2023 Sep 18;19(9):e1010938. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010938. eCollection 2023 Sep. PLoS Genet. 2023. PMID: 37721956 Free PMC article.
-
Functional Clustering of Metabolically Related Genes Is Conserved across Dikarya.J Fungi (Basel). 2023 Apr 28;9(5):523. doi: 10.3390/jof9050523. J Fungi (Basel). 2023. PMID: 37233234 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Analysis of microbiota-host communication mediated by butyrate in Atlantic salmon.Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2023 Mar 31;21:2558-2578. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.03.050. eCollection 2023. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2023. PMID: 37122632 Free PMC article.
-
Exploring microbial functional biodiversity at the protein family level-From metagenomic sequence reads to annotated protein clusters.Front Bioinform. 2023 Mar 3;3:1157956. doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2023.1157956. eCollection 2023. Front Bioinform. 2023. PMID: 36959975 Free PMC article. Review.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources