Where do introns come from?
2008
Where Do Introns Come From?
publication
Author Information
Author(s): Francesco Catania, Michael Lynch
Primary Institution: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
Hypothesis
Does the inverse process, i.e., 'intronization' or the creation of spliceable sequences from nonintronic regions, take place?
Conclusion
The study proposes a novel hypothesis for the origin of spliceosomal introns, suggesting they may arise from the accidental splicing of exonic regions containing premature termination codons.
Supporting Evidence
- Spliceosomal introns are widespread in the eukaryotic tree but are unequally distributed across species.
- The process of intronization may occur when a premature termination codon is accidentally spliced out during mRNA maturation.
- The study suggests that the emergence of introns is influenced by cellular mechanisms that filter out aberrant transcripts.
Takeaway
This study is about how certain parts of genes, called introns, might have started as other parts of genes and how they can change over time.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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