Variants of U1 small nuclear RNA assemble into spliceosomal complexes.

In this study, the existence of additional U1 snRNA variants in the posterior silk gland of the Bombyx mori Nistari strain from India was investigated. Three new U1 variants were detected. One of the new isoforms (U1 SG1) was found to be preferentially assembled into high molecular weight spliceosomal complexes in comparison with the total cellular lysate RNA control. Structural and nucleotide differences were examined in these new isoforms and compared with the previously reported U1 variants. Free energy (Delta G) values for the entire U1 snRNA secondary structures as well as the individual stem/loops (I, II, III and IV) domains of the isoforms were estimated to determine their structural stability.