The translational start sites of jawless and cartilaginous fish genes.

Mol Mar Biol Biotechnol

Smell and Taste Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery; and Institute for Human Gene Therapy, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4283,

Published: December 1998

AI Article Synopsis

  • The study analyzed nucleotide sequences around ATG initiation codons in jawless and cartilaginous fish cDNA to identify patterns in nucleotide composition.
  • Thymidine and cytidine were found to be less frequent, while purines were highly prevalent at the -3 position relative to the initiation codon, indicating a specific compositional bias.
  • Further analysis showed that the surrounding nucleotide environment of ATG codons is crucial for initiating translation in primitive fish genes, highlighting the evolutionary significance of these sequences.

Article Abstract

Nucleotide sequences that surrounded ATG initiation codons were examined in jawless and cartilaginous fish complementary DNA sequences. Both thymidine and cytidine residues were underrepresented at positions near the initiation codon, while an extremely high frequency of purine nucleotides was observed at position -3. Statistical analysis (chi2) indicated that the greatest compositional bias occurred at nucleotide positions -3 and +4, and suggested that a relatively short consensus sequence surrounded AUG initiation codons of primitive fish genes. ATG triplets within 5' leader sequences were flanked by nucleotides different from those that surrounded ATG initiation codons. Dinucleotide frequency analysis indicated a deficiency in TA and an excess in AA around initiation codons. DNA sequence analysis suggested that low CpG conversion occurred 5' to the translation start of primitive fish genes. The conservation of consensus sequences around initiation codons of primitive fish genes underscores the importance of nucleotide composition for initiation of translation.

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