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Spliceosomal Introns: Features, Functions, and Evolution

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Abstract

Spliceosomal introns, which have been found in most eukaryotic genes, are non-coding sequences excised from pre-mRNAs by a special complex called spliceosome during mRNA splicing. Introns occur in both protein- and RNA-coding genes and can be found in coding and untranslated gene regions. Because intron sequences vary greatly due to a high rate of polymorphism, the functions of intron had been for a long time associated only with alternative splicing, while intron evolution had been viewed not as an evolution of an individual genomic element, but rather considered within a framework of the evolution of the gene intron-exon structure. Here, we review the theories of intron origin, evolutionary events in the exon-intron structure, such as intron gain, loss, and sliding, intron functions known to date, and mechanisms by which changes in the intron features (length and phase) can affect the regulation of gene-mediated processes.

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Abbreviations

EIS:

exon-intron structure

LECA:

last eukaryotic common ancestor

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Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 18-34-00932).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    I. V. Poverennaya

  2. Institute of Mathematical Problems in Biology, Keldysh Branch of Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia

    I. V. Poverennaya & M. A. Roytberg

  3. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141701, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia

    M. A. Roytberg

  4. Higher School of Economics, 101000, Moscow, Russia

    M. A. Roytberg

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  1. I. V. Poverennaya
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  2. M. A. Roytberg
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Correspondence to I. V. Poverennaya.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest in financial or any other sphere. This article does not contain studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Poverennaya, I., Roytberg, M. Spliceosomal Introns: Features, Functions, and Evolution. Biochemistry Moscow 85, 725–734 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0006297920070019

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0006297920070019

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