The relationship between polyadenylation and splicing was investigated in a model system consisting of two tandem but nonidentical polyomavirus late transcription units. This model system exploits the polyomavirus late transcription termination and polyadenylation signals, which are sufficiently weak to allow the production of many multigenome-length primary transcripts with repeating introns, ...

More than 99% of all splice sites conform to consensus sequences that usually include the invariant dinucleotides gt and ag at the 5' and 3' ends of the introns, respectively. We report on the utilisation of a non-consensus (non-canonical) donor splice site within exon 1 of the HRPT2 gene in familial isolated primary hyperparathyroidism (FIHP). HRPT2 mutations are more frequently associated wit...

It has previously been shown that a mutation of yeast 5' splice junctions at position 5 (GUAUGU) causes aberrant pre-mRNA cleavages near the correct 5' splice site. We show here that the addition of exon mutations to an aberrant cleavage site region transforms it into a functional 5' splice site both in vivo and in vitro. The aberrant mRNAs are translated in vivo. The results suggest that the h...

We have collected over half a million splice sites from five species-Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans and Arabidopsis thaliana-and classified them into four subtypes: U2-type GT-AG and GC-AG and U12-type GT-AG and AT-AC. We have also found new examples of rare splice-site categories, such as U12-type introns without canonical borders, and U2-dependent ...

BACKGROUND Disease-causing mutations that activate transposon-derived exons without creating a new splice-site consensus have been reported rarely, but they provided unique insights into our understanding of structural motifs required for inclusion of intronic sequences in mature transcripts. METHODS We employ a combination of experimental and computational techniques to characterize the firs...

PURPOSE To identify the disease-causing gene in a Chinese family with autosomal dominant congenital cataract. METHODS Clinical and ophthalmologic examinations were performed on all members of a Chinese family with congenital cataract. Nine genes associated with congenital cataract were screened using direct DNA sequencing. Mutations were confirmed using restriction fragment length polymorphis...

Regulation of calcitonin (CT)/calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) RNA processing involves the use of alternative 3' terminal exons. In most tissues and cell lines, the CT terminal exon is recognized. In an attempt to define regulatory sequences involved in the utilization of the CT-specific terminal exon, we performed deletion and mutation analyses of a mini-gene construct that contains the ...

The 3' splice site of influenza A segment 7 is used to produce mRNA for the M2 ion-channel protein, which is critical to the formation of viable influenza virions. Native gel analysis, enzymatic/chemical structure probing, and oligonucleotide binding studies of a 63 nt fragment, containing the 3' splice site, key residues of an SF2/ASF splicing factor binding site, and a polypyrimidine tract, p...

Assembly of spliceosomes involves a number of sequential steps in which small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs) and some non-snRNP proteins recognize the splice site sequences and undergo various conformational rearrangements. A number of important intermolecular RNA-RNA duplexes are formed transiently during the process of splice site recognition. Various steps in the assembly pathw...

Martinez et al reported an interesting case of Dubowitz-like syndrome associated with an acceptor splice site mutation, leading to the use of a cryptic splice donor site in an Alu sequence. Their explanation for the resulting aberrant transcripts was limited to a referral to Alu polyA tails and Aluderived microRNAs. Upon mutation of acceptor sites, the spliceosome machinery tries to find suitab...