Journal article
Sequences similar to genes for two mitochondrial proteins and portions of ribosomal RNA in tandemly arrayed 6-kilobase-pair DNA of a malarial parasite
Molecular and biochemical parasitology, v 35(2), pp 97-107
1989
PMID: 2549417
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Abstract
Erythrocytic stages of mammalian malarial parasites contain acristate mitochondria whose functions are not well understood. Moreover, little is known about the genome of these organelles. We have previously reported that all species of malarial parasites examined contain highly conserved, tandemly arrayed DNA with a unit length of about 6.0 kb that is transcribed into discrete RNA molecules in erythrocytic stages. We now report the complete DNA sequence of the 5984-bp repeating unit of
Plasmodium yoelii, a rodent parasite. Two slightly overlapping regions transcribed into large RNA molecules were found to have significant DNA and protein sequence similarity with mitochondrion-coded proteins, cytochrome
c oxidase subunit I and cytochrome
b. Significant sequence similarity with other mitochondrial protein genes could not be detected. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-like genes were not detected in this sequence either. However, two regions, 82 and 50 nucleotides long, specified by different strands, were found to have extensive similarity with the highly conserved central loop of the peptidyl transferase domain of the large rRNA of
Escherichia coli, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. Compensatory nucleotide substitutions were present in these regions, so that the predicted secondary structure was not affected. Functional utilization of these regions, if it exists, could argue for a
trans-associative origin of rRNA. In organization, size and sequence, the tandem arrays of 6.0 kb malarial DNA appear to be a very unusual form of mitochondrial DNA.
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Details
- Title
- Sequences similar to genes for two mitochondrial proteins and portions of ribosomal RNA in tandemly arrayed 6-kilobase-pair DNA of a malarial parasite
- Creators
- Akhil B VaidyaRama AkellaKathleen Suplick
- Publication Details
- Molecular and biochemical parasitology, v 35(2), pp 97-107
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:A1989AB99500001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-0024402191
- Other Identifier
- 991014878132804721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Parasitology