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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 100, No. 5, 2005, pp. 501-513
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Bioline Code: oc05122
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 100, No. 5, 2005, pp. 501-513
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Pre-mRNA trans-splicing: from kinetoplastids to mammals, an easy language for life diversity
Mario Gustavo Mayer & Lucile Maria Floeter-Winter
Abstract
Since the discovery that genes are split into intron and exons, the studies of the mechanisms involved in splicing pointed to presence of consensus signals in an attempt to generalize the process for all living cells. However, as discussed in the present review, splicing is a theme full of variations. The trans-splicing of pre-mRNAs, the joining of exons from distinct transcripts, is one of these variations with broad distribution in the phylogenetic tree. The biological meaning of this phenomenon is discussed encompassing reactions resembling a possible noise to mechanisms of gene expression regulation. All of them however, can contribute to the generation of life diversity.
Keywords
RNA processing - alternative trans-splicing - spliced leader RNA - trypanosomatids - nematodes - mammalian
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