Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 9, 1089-1102, Copyright © 1992 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
A Belkhiri, J Buchko and GR Klassen
The 5S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes in eukaryotes may occur either
interspersed with the other rRNA genes in the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeat,
or in separate tandem arrays, or dispersed throughout the genome. In
Pythium species and in several related Oomycetes, polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) amplification of the nontranscribed spacer (NTS) region with one
primer specific for the 5S gene revealed, with several exceptions, that the
5S rRNA gene was present in the rDNA repeat of those species with
filamentous sporangia and was absent from the rDNA repeat of those with
globose or unknown sporangia. When present, the gene was located
approximately 1 kb downstream of the large-subunit rRNA gene and on the
strand opposite that on which the other rRNA genes were located. This was
confirmed in P. torulosum by sequencing of the gene and its flanking
regions. The 5S rRNA genes of P. ultimum were found in tandem arrays
outside the rDNA repeat. Evidence of dispersed 5S rRNA sequences was also
observed. For many of the species of Pythium having the 5S gene in the NTS,
the region between the large-subunit rRNA gene and the 5S gene was found to
have length heterogeneity. Oomycetes related to Pythium were also found to
have the 5S gene in the NTS, although sometimes in the opposite
orientation. This may mean that the presence of the gene in the NTS is
ancestral for the Oomycetes and that the absence of the gene in the NTS in
those Pythiums with globose sporangia is due to loss of the gene from the
rDNA repeat in an ancestor of this group of species. These results favor
the view that 5S rRNA gene linkage to the rRNA cistron existed prior to the
unlinked arrangement seen in most plants and animals.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The 5S ribosomal RNA gene in Pythium species: two different genomic locations
Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
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