- Research news
- Published:
Operons in worms
Genome Biology volume 3, Article number: spotlight-20020620-01 (2002)
Operons contain multiple adjacent genes whose transcription is regulated by the transcription of a single polycistronic message. The processing of polycistronic pre-mRNA involves 3' end formation and trans-splicing by the specialized SL2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle. In the June 20 Nature, Blumenthal et al. describe a screen for SL2-containing mRNAs in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome (Nature 2002, 417:851-854). They used a probe enriched for SL2-containing mRNA to hybridize to microarrays containing over 17,000 genes. They selected around 1,200 genes, including many genes with known SL2-containing mRNAs. Most of these genes (86%) are located downstream in operons, indicating a strong correlation between SL2 trans-splicing and downstream location in an operon. Blumenthal et al. estimated that the C. elegansgenome may contain as many as 1,068 operons, representing over 2,600 genes (or up to 15% of genes).
References
A second trans-spliced RNA leader sequence in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
Nature, [http://www.nature.com]
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weitzman, J.B. Operons in worms. Genome Biol 3, spotlight-20020620-01 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20020620-01
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20020620-01