mRNA序列与相应内含子序列匹配的普适性分析

剪切后的内含子在基因表达和调控过程中发挥重要作用,由此在成熟mRNA与相应的内含子之间也存在相互作用,并且二者协同进化。为了验证这一理论,以13个物种的基因组作为研究样本,凭借Smith-Waterman的局域比对方法,最终得到在成熟mRNA与其内含子序列之间的最佳匹配片段,同时在mRNA序列上显示出最佳匹配强度的分布区。然后对最佳匹配片段的长度、配对率的分布这两项参数进行分析之后,发现最佳匹配片段的这两个参数的特征,与siRNA和miRNA的结合特征是相近的;在mRNA序列上,得出UTR区与内含子相互作用强,GC含量低的片段偏好结合到3’UTR区,相反GC含量高的片段更倾向与5’UTR区发生相互作用。因此,最佳匹配片段的序列特征符合RNA-RNA相互作用规律,可以把内含子看成是一种具有基因表达调控功能的序列。以上研究对于进一步探讨内含子的功能和进化具有重大意义。     

线虫核糖核蛋白基因内含子与相应编码序列的相互作用

对线虫核糖核蛋白基因内含子序列与相应编码序列采用Smith-Waterman方法做局域比对分析,探讨两者之间的相互作用机制．发现内含子中部序列确实存在与相应编码序列的相互作用区域．第一内含子的最佳匹配分布在内含子15%～55%的区域内,第二内含子的最佳匹配分布在内含子30%～80%的区域内．对于长内含子,在与外显子序列比对时,最佳匹配分布在内含子5%～20% 区域内,在与整个编码序列比对时,出现了两个峰区,一个位于内含子15%～30%区域内,另一个位于内含子54%～78%区域内．推测第一个峰区与外显子内部序列有关,第二个峰区与外显子-外显子结合区域的序列有关．还发现编码序列上存在多个与内含子序列的相互作用域和一些禁配区域分布．推测这些禁配区域与蛋白质结合区域有关．结论印证了内含子序列与相应编码序列协同进化的观点．     

外显子与内含子序列的分形尺度参数可分性研究

近年来, 关于ＤＮＡ 序列的分形尺度特性的研究引起了研究者广泛的兴趣, 许多研究表明,ＤＮＡ 序列的外显子和内含子区域具有不同的分形尺度特性,这有可能成为区别外显子和内含子序列的特征之一。文中应用ＷＴＭＭ（ Ｗａｖｅｌｅｔ Ｔｒａｎｓｆｏｒｍ Ｍｏｄｕｌｕｓ Ｍａｘｉｍ） 方法分析ＤＮＡ 序列的分形结构,计算表征分形结构尺度特性的量化参数 Ｈｌｄｅｒ 指数。考虑到外显子序列的三联体编码特性, 计算了ＤＮＡ 序列及三个不同的相位序列分别在三种ＤＮＡ ｗａｌｋ 方式下得到的序列的Ｈｌｄｅｒ 指数,并将每个Ｈｌｄｅｒ 指数作为一维特征,考察外显子与内含子序列的分布。计算结果表明,只按单个分形尺度参数来看,外显子与内含子不具有可分性。在此基础上,从模式识别的角度出发, 将外显子与内含子视为由此构成的多维特征空间中的两个模式类, 由此设计基于ＬＬＭ（ＬｏｃａｌＬｉｎｅａｒ Ｍａｐ） 神经网络的分类器,并对分类器的错误率进行估计,实验结果表明外显子序列与内含子序列在此特征空间中具有聚类特性,从而表明以这一组分形尺度参数作为序列特征,外显子与内含子具有可分性。这一结果为研究外显子与内含子序列的识别算法提供了新的线索     

真生物mRNA二级结构与内含子剪接

对６８个外显子－内含子－外显子序列片段以及相应的外显子－外显子序列片段的二级结构进行分析后发现,内含子５‘端和３’端的碱基Ｇ（剪拉位点）中大约９０％们一级结构的环区或是茎区的端部并靠近环,贿位于环区的Ｇ也多靠近环的基部;９２％的外显子拼接位点也有类似性质,约８２％的分枝点Ａ位于环区或环与茎的连接部位,折叠结构的形成使剪接位点和分枝点在空间上彼此靠近。     

真核生物mRNA二级结构与内含子剪接

对68个外显子-内含子-外显子序列片段以及相应的外显子-外显子序列片段的二级结构进行分析后发现,内含子5′端和3′端的碱基G(剪接位点)中大约90％位于二级结构的环区或是茎区的端部并靠近环,而且位于环区的G也多靠近环的基部;92％的外显子拼接位点也有类似性质. 约82％的分枝点A位于环区或环与茎的连接部位. 折叠结构的形成使剪接位点和分枝点在空间上彼此靠近.     

Dystrophin基因51号外显子缺失连接片段的克隆和测序

为了解Dystrophin基因缺失断裂点和连接片段的序列特点,以分析Dystrophin基因缺失的分子机制,利用巢式反向PCR克隆了1名51号外显子缺失DMD（Duchennne Muscular Dystrophy,DMD）患者的缺失连接片段,通过测序,确定5‘和3‘断裂点及连接片段的序列。对5‘、3‘断裂点和连接片段进行重复序列、TOPOI、TOPOⅡ酶切位点等分析。结果共测得50号内含子1614bp,确定该患者Dystrophin基因的5‘断裂点位于THE1（Transposon-like Human Element,THE）内,3‘断裂点位于L2序列内。连接片段有3bp的连接同源序列cta,局部无小的缺失、插入和碱基置换。本研究首次在50号内含子内发现-THE1序列,再次发现Dystrophin基因的缺失断裂点位于THE1结构内。反向PCR操作简单、耗时短,可以推扩应用于缺失连接片段的克隆;THE1可能与部分Dystrophin基因的缺失有关;Dystrophin基因缺失大多与同源重组无关,非同源末端连接可能参与了Dystrophin基因缺失的形成。     

外显子与内含子序列分维的双碱基研究

引入碱基间的关联,研究了外显子和内含子序列以双碱基为单位的分维,我们发现在这种情况下,外显子和内显子序列在短程和中程存在自相似性并分别定义了这两个区域的分维。结果表明,短程的分维值Ｄｇ一般比中程的Ｄｍ大,外显子的两个分维值比内含子大。我们改变双联体的位相而分维却不变,这反映出在双联体基础上,外显子的不规则性大于内含子,短程的不规则性大于中程,外显子和内含子序列对以２为周期的结构没有位相的特异性。     

矛尾鱼Hoxa—11基因克隆及5′端序列分析

Hoxa-11基因调节鱼类鳍和四足动物肢的发育,在脊椎动物进化过程中起着重要的作用,利用人和鼠的Hoxa-11基因保守序列设计了两个兼并引物,通过PCR扩增到了矛尾鱼的Hoxa-11基因,经克隆和DNA序列分析,该片段为2065bp,包括绝大部分外显子Ⅰ,内含子和部分外显子Ⅱ,编码204个氨基酸,其氨基酸序列与人、鼠、鸡、蛙和斑马鱼的同源性分别为66.0%、67.6%、74.4%、72.8%和59.7%。外显子Ⅰ的长度从矛尾鱼到蛙、鸡、鼠和人呈现逐步上升趋势,人比矛尾鱼增长了16%,进一步分析,外显子Ⅰ可分为4个区域;两个高度保守区域,1个中度保守区域和1个可变区域,外显子Ⅰ的长度变化主要是由于可变区域内丙氨酸同聚物以及两侧富含甘氨酸和丝氨酸序列的累积。矛尾鱼只有1个由两个丙氨酸组成的同类物,蛙有1个由5个连续丙氨酸组成的同聚物,而鸡、鼠和人有3个丙氨酸同聚物,其中最大的同聚物由7个连续丙氨酸组成,而且在同聚物两侧出现了富含甘氨酸和丝氨酸序列。这表明可变区域可能与脊椎动物进化和鳍-肢转换过程中新功能的获得有关。同源异型盒所在的外显子Ⅱ区和剪接位点是高度保守的。内含子的长度变化较大,但在其内部也发现了两个高度保守的35bp和16bp的DNA片段,这两个片段在人、鼠、鸡、蛙和矛尾鱼中是完全相同的,这些序列的高度保守性提示其功能上的重要性。     

RNA 的拼接

RNA的拼接（(splicing）作用是指一种新 的RNA加工过程。自从1977年以来,几个实 验室同时报道了一些病毒和真核细胞基因的编 码序列是被非编码序列间隔开的。就是说,在 真核细胞中存在着割裂基因（(splite gene).这 样一个真核细胞基因割裂现象曾经引起了极大 的震动。编码序列叫做外显子（exon),作为其 间隔的非编码区叫做内含子（intron)。整个 DNA,包括外显子和内含子全部被转录为RNA 序列片段。这段RNA经过剪接,除去内含子 区, 将几段外显子区拼接为一个完整的RNA 的过程叫做RNA的拼接过程。如血红蛋白, 它的夕链基因就是一个由两段内含子插人外显 子之间构成的‘ii0 内含子又被称作基因的插人 序列(intervening sequence)。也就是说,成熟 的RNA序列是从相应于分割开的DNA序列 的片段装配起来的。所以,RNA拼接过程就 是割裂基因表达时RNA序列的重组过程。 在真核细胞中这种基因割裂现象是非常普 遍的。无论是细胞核、线粒体或是叶绿体的基 因中都存在割裂基因。这些基因中既有编码结 构蛋白质的,也有编码调节蛋白的。插人序列 的数目也不等。从一个基因完全没有插人序列 到一个基因被割裂50次以上。内含子的大小 范围也很不一样,可以从10个碱基对（例如在 t RNA基因中）到几万个碱基对（例如果蝇中的 homeotic基因）fai0真核细胞百分之九十以上的 非编码区中插人序列的部位千变万化。许多迹 象表明这些部位对基因表达的调节有着重要的 作用。所以研究真核细胞RNA的拼接对于了 解真核细胞基因表达的调控规律是很重要的。 RNA的拼接与生物的分化过程和发育过程都 有着极为密切的关系,它是当前分子生物学中 研究得最为活跃的课题之一。 下面我们将分两部分来介绍RNA的拼接 作用。     

异源四倍体鲫鲤及其原始父母本细胞周期蛋白B基因克隆与分子遗传分析

细胞周期蛋白(cyclin)B是真核细胞周期运转中调控G2期至M期转化的关键因子.本实验根据斑马鱼细胞周期蛋白 B1基因的剪切方式,设计3对特异于金鱼和银鲫细胞周期蛋白B基因外显子区兼并引物,首次扩增出异源四倍体鲫鲤及其原始亲本红鲫和鲤鱼细胞周期蛋白B基因2条大小分别约为2.4 kb和2.1 kb的片段.测序及比对分析表明：这3种鱼的细胞周期蛋白B基因2个片段均包含8个外显子和7个内含子.内含子剪切位点符合GT/AG规则,推测细胞周期蛋白B基因2个片段可能是细胞周期蛋白B基因的2种存在形式.异源四倍体鲫鲤与其原始父母本细胞周期蛋白B基因片段序列的比较结果表明：无论是外显子区还是内含子区,异源四倍体鲫鲤与其原始亲本都具有较高的遗传相似性,在1 025 bp的外显子序列中相同的碱基位点数达963个,为异源四倍体鲫鲤来源于红鲫和鲤鱼提供了分子证据;同时,异源四倍体鲫鲤与其原始亲本差异碱基位点的存在又表明这一独特的多倍体物种与其原始亲本存在着进化上的变异.此外,还分别以细胞周期蛋白B基因外显子和内含子序列构建了包括异源四倍体鲫鲤及其原始父母本在内的系统进化树.结果初步表明：对于亲缘关系较近的物种,用外显子和内含子序列构建的系统进化树与传统的物种进化树一致;而对于亲缘关系较远的物种,用内含子序列构建的进化树与传统的物种进化顺序存在较大差异.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of a methylcholanthrene-inducible cytochrome P-450 (P-450d) gene in the rat

The rat cytochrome P-450d gene which is inducibly expressed by the administration of 3-methylcholanthrene (MC) has been cloned and analyzed for the complete nucleotide sequence. The gene is 6.9 kilobases long and is separated into 7 exons by 6 introns. The insertion sites of the introns in this gene are well-conserved as compared with those of another MC-inducible cytochrome P-450c gene, but are completely different from those of a phenobarbital-inducible cytochrome P-450e gene. The overall homologies in the coding nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences were 75% and 68% between the two MC-inducible cytochrome P-450 genes, respectively. The similarity of the gene organization between cytochrome P-450d and P-450c as well as their homology in the deduced amino acid and the nucleotide sequences suggests that these two genes of MC-inducible cytochromes P-450 constitute a different subfamily than those of the phenobarbital-inducible one in the cytochrome P-450 gene family. In contrast with the notable sequence homology in the coding region of the two MC-inducible cytochromes P-450, all the introns and the 5'- and 3'-flanking regions of the two genes showed virtually no sequence homology between them except for several short DNA segments that are located in the promoter region and the first intron. The nucleotide sequences and the locations of these conserved short DNA segments in the two genes suggest that they may affect the expression of the genes. Middle repetitive sequence reported as ID or identifier sequence were found in and in the vicinity of the cytochrome P-450d gene.     

Correlation between splicing sites within an intron and their sequence complementarity with U1 RNA

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of two short introns (respectively 215 and 90 nucleotides) in the chick alpha 2-collagen (type I) gene as well as parts of the adjacent exons. For one of these introns we find that the 5' end of U1 RNA is complementary not only to the two ends of the intron but also to one end of the intron and sequences inside this intron. These complementarities predict three potential internal splicing sites. By S1 mapping experiments we find three discrete RNA precursors in which different portions of this intron have been deleted. The sizes of the deleted segments are in good agreement with the location of the predicted splicing points inside the intron. The DNA sequence indicates that removal of one portion of the intron should still allow the subsequent elimination of the rest of the intron and the correct splicing of the coding segments located at each end of the intron. The new introns created by the first splicing events contain sequences at each end which are also complementary to U1 RNA. Our data indicate that in the intron which we have examined the sequences at the 3' end of the intron are removed before those at the 5' end.     

The complete sequence of the mouse skeletal alpha-actin gene reveals several conserved and inverted repeat sequences outside of the protein-coding region.

The complete nucleotide sequence of a genomic clone encoding the mouse skeletal alpha-actin gene has been determined. This single-copy gene codes for a protein identical in primary sequence to the rabbit skeletal alpha-actin. It has a large intron in the 5'-untranslated region 12 nucleotides upstream from the initiator ATG and five small introns in the coding region at codons specifying amino acids 41/42, 150, 204, 267, and 327/328. These intron positions are identical to those for the corresponding genes of chickens and rats. Similar to other skeletal alpha-actin genes, the nucleotide sequence codes for two amino acids, Met-Cys, preceding the known N-terminal Asp of the mature protein. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of rat, mouse, chicken, and human skeletal muscle alpha-actin genes reveals conserved sequences (some not previously noted) outside of the protein-coding region. Furthermore, several inverted repeat sequences, partially within these conserved regions, have been identified. These sequences are not present in the vertebrate cytoskeletal beta-actin genes. The strong conservation of the inverted repeat sequences suggests that they may have a role in the tissue-specific expression of skeletal alpha-actin genes.     

Structure, polymorphism, and novel repeated DNA elements revealed by a complete sequence of the human alpha-fetoprotein gene

The human alpha-fetoprotein gene spans 19,489 base pairs from the putative "Cap" site to the polyadenylation site. It is composed of 15 exons separated by 14 introns, which are symmetrically placed within the three domains of alpha-fetoprotein. In the 5' region, a putative TATAAA box is at position -21, and a variant sequence, CCAAC, of the common CAT box is at -65. Enhancer core sequences GTGGTTTAAAG are found in introns 3 and 4, and several copies of glucocorticoid response sequences AGATACAGTA are found on the template strand of the gene. There are six polymorphic sites within 4690 base pairs of contiguous DNA derived from two allelic alpha-fetoprotein genes. This amounts to a measured polymorphic frequency of 0.13%, or 6.4 X 10(-4)/site, which is about 5-10 times lower than values estimated from studies on polymorphic restriction sites in other regions of the human genome. There are four types of repetitive sequence elements in the introns and flanking regions of the human alpha-fetoprotein gene. At least one of these is apparently a novel structure (designated Xba) and is found as a pair of direct repeats, with one copy in intron 7 and the other in intron 8. It is conceivable that within the last 2 million years the copy in intron 8 gave rise to the repeat in intron 7. Their present location on both sides of exon 8 gives these sequences a potential for disrupting the functional integrity of the gene in the event of an unequal crossover between them. There are three Alu elements, one of which is in intron 4; the others are located in the 3' flanking region. A solitary Kpn repeat is found in intron 3. The Xba and Kpn repeats were only detected by complete sequencing of the introns. Neither X, Xba, nor Kpn elements are present in the related human albumin gene, whereas Alu's are present in different positions. From phylogenetic evidence, it appears that Alu elements were inserted into the alpha-fetoprotein gene at some time postdating the mammalian radiation 85 million years ago.     

Ovomucoid intervening sequences specify functional domains and generate protein polymorphism

Two thirds of the natural chicken ovomucoid gene has been sequenced, including all exons and the intron sequences surrounding all fourteen intron/ exon junctions. The junction sequences surrounding four of the introns are redundant; however, the sequences surrounding the other three introns contain no redundancies and thus the splicing sites at either end of these three introns are unambiguous. The splicing in all cases conforms to the GT-AG rule. The ovomucoid gene sequence around intron F can be used to predict the cause of an internal deletion polymorphism in the ovomucoid protein, which is an apparent error in the processing of the ovomucoid pre-mRNA. We also compare the structural organization of the ovomucoid gene with the ovomucoid protein sequence to examine theories of the evolution of ovomucoids as well as the origin of intervening sequences. This analysis suggests that the present ovomucoid gene evolved from a primordial ovomucoid gene by two separate intragenic duplications. Furthermore, sequence analyses suggest that introns were present in the primordial ovomucoid gene before birds and mammals diverged, about 300 million years ago. Finally, the positions of the introns within the ovomucoid gene support the theory that introns separate gene segments that code for functional domains of proteins and provide insight on the manner by which eucaryotic genes were constructed during the process of evolution.     

A canonical sequence organization at the 5'-end of the myosin heavy chain genes

The sequences encoding the 5'-ends of three chicken fast-white myosin heavy chain (MHC) genes have been determined. When compared with the sequences of two other MHC genes it is apparent that both the exon and intron positions are conserved. All exon sequences are highly conserved; there is absolute amino acid conservation in the second and third exons. In addition, while the first and third introns diverge among the genes, the second intron is highly conserved between the five. This intron contains a 24-bp sequence that is repeated twice in one of the introns and once in the other four. Analyses indicate that this sequence, which is partially homologous to 7SL RNA, appears to be largely restricted to the MHC gene family. Analysis of the 5'-flanking sequences show that while small homologies are present between some of the genes, they have extensively diverged in this region.