Novel Introner-Like Elements in fungi Are Involved in Parallel Gains of Spliceosomal Introns

Intron lariat spliceosomes convert lariats to true circles: implications for intron transposition

Rare, full-length circular intron RNAs distinct from lariats have been reported in several species, but their biogenesis is not understood. We envisioned and tested a hypothesis for their formation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, documenting full-length and novel processed circular RNAs from multiple introns. Evidence implicates a previously undescribed catalytic activity of the intron lariat spliceosome (ILS) in which the 3'-OH of the lariat tail (with optional trimming and adenylation by the nuclear 3' processing machinery) attacks the branch, joining the intron 3' end to the 5' splice site in a 3'-5' linked circle. Human U2 and U12 spliceosomes produce analogous full-length and processed circles. Postsplicing catalytic activity of the spliceosome may promote intron transposition during eukaryotic genome evolution.

Intron-lariat spliceosomes convert lariats to true circles: implications for intron transposition

Rare, full length circular intron RNAs distinct from lariats have been reported in several species, but their biogenesis is not understood. We envision and test a hypothesis for their formation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, documenting full length and novel processed circular RNAs from multiple introns. Evidence implicates a previously undescribed catalytic activity of the intron-lariat spliceosome (ILS) in which the 3'-OH of the lariat tail (with optional trimming and adenylation by the nuclear 3' processing machinery) attacks the branch, joining the intron 3' end to the 5' splice site in a 3'-5' linked circle. Human U2 and U12 spliceosomes produce analogous full length and processed circles. Post-splicing catalytic activity of the spliceosome may promote intron transposition during eukaryotic genome evolution.

Intron losses and gains in the nematodes

Background

The evolution of spliceosomal introns has been widely studied among various eukaryotic groups. Researchers nearly reached the consensuses on the pattern and the mechanisms of intron losses and gains across eukaryotes. However, according to previous studies that analyzed a few genes or genomes, Nematoda seems to be an eccentric group.

Results

Taking advantage of the recent accumulation of sequenced genomes, we extensively analyzed the intron losses and gains using 104 nematode genomes across all the five Clades of the phylum. Nematodes have a wide range of intron density, from less than one to more than nine per kbp coding sequence. The rates of intron losses and gains exhibit significant heterogeneity both across different nematode lineages and across different evolutionary stages of the same lineage. The frequency of intron losses far exceeds that of intron gains. Five pieces of evidence supporting the model of cDNA-mediated intron loss have been observed in ten Caenorhabditis species, the dominance of the precise intron losses, frequent loss of adjacent introns, high-level expression of the intron-lost genes, preferential losses of short introns, and the preferential losses of introns close to 3′-ends of genes. Like studies in most eukaryotic groups, we cannot find the source sequences for the limited number of intron gains detected in the Caenorhabditis genomes.

Conclusions

These results indicate that nematodes are a typical eukaryotic group rather than an outlier in intron evolution.

Internally Symmetrical Stwintrons and Related Canonical Introns in Hypoxylaceae Species

Spliceosomal introns are pervasive in eukaryotes. Intron gains and losses have occurred throughout evolution, but the origin of new introns is unclear. Stwintrons are complex intervening sequences where one of the sequence elements (5′-donor, lariat branch point element or 3′-acceptor) necessary for excision of a U2 intron (external intron) is itself interrupted by a second (internal) U2 intron. In Hypoxylaceae, a family of endophytic fungi, we uncovered scores of donor-disrupted stwintrons with striking sequence similarity among themselves and also with canonical introns. Intron–exon structure comparisons suggest that these stwintrons have proliferated within diverging taxa but also give rise to proliferating canonical introns in some genomes. The proliferated (stw)introns have integrated seamlessly at novel gene positions. The recently proliferated (stw)introns appear to originate from a conserved ancestral stwintron characterised by terminal inverted repeats (45–55 nucleotides), a highly symmetrical structure that may allow the formation of a double-stranded intron RNA molecule. No short tandem duplications flank the putatively inserted intervening sequences, which excludes a DNA transposition-based mechanism of proliferation. It is tempting to suggest that this highly symmetrical structure may have a role in intron proliferation by (an)other mechanism(s).

Unravelling unexplored diversity of cercosporoid fungi (Mycosphaerellaceae, Mycosphaerellales, Ascomycota) in tropical Africa

Cercosporoid fungi (Mycosphaerellaceae, Mycosphaerellales, Ascomycota) are one of the largest and most diverse groups of hyphomycetes causing a wide range of diseases of economically important plants as well as of plants in the wild. Although more than 6000 species are known for this group, the documentation of this fungal group is far from complete. Especially in the tropics, the diversity of cercosporoid fungi is poorly known. The present study aims to identify and characterise cercosporoid fungi collected on host plants belonging to Fabaceae in Benin, West Africa. Information on their morphology, host species and DNA sequence data (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, ITS and tef1) is provided. DNA sequence data were obtained by a simple and non-culture-based method for DNA isolation which has been applied for cercosporoid fungi for the first time in the context of the present study. Among the loci used for the phylogenetic analysis, tef1 provided the best resolution together with the multigene dataset. Species delimitation in many cases, however, was only possible by combining molecular sequence data with morphological characteristics. Based on forty specimens recently collected in Benin, 18 species are presented with morphological descriptions, illustrations and sequence data. Among these, six species in the genus Cercospora and two species in Pseudocercospora are proposed as species new to science. The newly described species are Cercospora (C.) beninensis on Crotalariamacrocalyx, C.parakouensis on Desmodiumtortuosum, C.rhynchophora on Vignaunguiculata, C.vignae-subterraneae on Vignasubterranea, C.tentaculifera on Vignaunguiculata, C.zorniicola on Zorniaglochidiata, Pseudocercosporasennicola on Sennaoccidentalis and Pseudocercosporatabei on Vignaunguiculata. Eight species of cercosporoid fungi are reported for Benin for the first time, three of them, namely C.cf.canscorina, C.cf.fagopyri and C.phaseoli-lunati are new for West Africa. The presence of two species of cercosporoid fungi on Fabaceae previously reported from Benin, namely Nothopassalorapersonata and Passaloraarachidicola, is confirmed.

Rapidly evolving protointrons in Saccharomyces genomes revealed by a hungry spliceosome

Introns are a prevalent feature of eukaryotic genomes, yet their origins and contributions to genome function and evolution remain mysterious. In budding yeast, repression of the highly transcribed intron-containing ribosomal protein genes (RPGs) globally increases splicing of non-RPG transcripts through reduced competition for the spliceosome. We show that under these “hungry spliceosome” conditions, splicing occurs at more than 150 previously unannotated locations we call protointrons that do not overlap known introns. Protointrons use a less constrained set of splice sites and branchpoints than standard introns, including in one case AT-AC in place of GT-AG. Protointrons are not conserved in all closely related species, suggesting that most are not under positive selection and are fated to disappear. Some are found in non-coding RNAs (e. g. CUTs and SUTs), where they may contribute to the creation of new genes. Others are found across boundaries between noncoding and coding sequences, or within coding sequences, where they offer pathways to the creation of new protein variants, or new regulatory controls for existing genes. We define protointrons as (1) nonconserved intron-like sequences that are (2) infrequently spliced, and importantly (3) are not currently understood to contribute to gene expression or regulation in the way that standard introns function. A very few protointrons in S. cerevisiae challenge this classification by their increased splicing frequency and potential function, consistent with the proposed evolutionary process of “intronization”, whereby new standard introns are created. This snapshot of intron evolution highlights the important role of the spliceosome in the expansion of transcribed genomic sequence space, providing a pathway for the rare events that may lead to the birth of new eukaryotic genes and the refinement of existing gene function.

The protein coding information in eukaryotic genes is broken by intervening sequences called introns that are removed from RNA during transcription by a large protein-RNA complex called the spliceosome. Where introns come from and how the spliceosome contributes to genome evolution are open questions. In this study, we find more than 150 new places in the yeast genome that are recognized by the spliceosome and spliced out as introns. Since they appear to have arisen very recently in evolution by sequence drift and do not appear to contribute to gene expression or its regulation, we call these protointrons. Protointrons are found in both protein-coding and non-coding RNAs and are not efficiently removed by the splicing machinery. Although most protointrons are not conserved and will likely disappear as evolution proceeds, a few are spliced more efficiently, and are located where they might begin to play functional roles in gene expression, as predicted by the proposed process of intronization. The challenge now is to understand how spontaneously appearing splicing events like protointrons might contribute to the creation of new genes, new genetic controls, and new protein isoforms as genomes evolve.

Rapidly evolving protointrons in Saccharomyces genomes revealed by a hungry spliceosome

Introns are a prevalent feature of eukaryotic genomes, yet their origins and contributions to genome function and evolution remain mysterious. In budding yeast, repression of the highly transcribed intron-containing ribosomal protein genes (RPGs) globally increases splicing of non-RPG transcripts through reduced competition for the spliceosome. We show that under these "hungry spliceosome" conditions, splicing occurs at more than 150 previously unannotated locations we call protointrons that do not overlap known introns. Protointrons use a less constrained set of splice sites and branchpoints than standard introns, including in one case AT-AC in place of GT-AG. Protointrons are not conserved in all closely related species, suggesting that most are not under positive selection and are fated to disappear. Some are found in non-coding RNAs (e. g. CUTs and SUTs), where they may contribute to the creation of new genes. Others are found across boundaries between noncoding and coding sequences, or within coding sequences, where they offer pathways to the creation of new protein variants, or new regulatory controls for existing genes. We define protointrons as (1) nonconserved intron-like sequences that are (2) infrequently spliced, and importantly (3) are not currently understood to contribute to gene expression or regulation in the way that standard introns function. A very few protointrons in S. cerevisiae challenge this classification by their increased splicing frequency and potential function, consistent with the proposed evolutionary process of "intronization", whereby new standard introns are created. This snapshot of intron evolution highlights the important role of the spliceosome in the expansion of transcribed genomic sequence space, providing a pathway for the rare events that may lead to the birth of new eukaryotic genes and the refinement of existing gene function.

Intron gain by tandem genomic duplication: a novel case in a potato gene encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

The origin and subsequent accumulation of spliceosomal introns are prominent events in the evolution of eukaryotic gene structure. However, the mechanisms underlying intron gain remain unclear because there are few proven cases of recently gained introns. In an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene, we found that a tandem duplication occurred after the divergence of potato and its wild relatives among other Solanum plants. The duplicated sequence crosses the intron-exon boundary of the first intron and the second exon. A new intron was detected at this duplicated region, and it includes a small previously exonic segment of the upstream copy of the duplicated sequence and the intronic segment of the downstream copy of the duplicated sequence. The donor site of this new intron was directly obtained from the small previously exonic segment. Most of the splicing signals were inherited directly from the parental intron/exon structure, including a putative branch site, the polypyrimidine tract, the 3' splicing site, two putative exonic splicing enhancers, and the GC contents differed between the intron and exon. In the widely cited model of intron gain by tandem genomic duplication, the duplication of an AGGT-containing exonic segment provides the GT and AG splicing sites for the new intron. Our results illustrate that the tandem duplication model of intron gain should be diverse in terms of obtaining the proper splicing signals.

Cladosporium fulvum Effectors: Weapons in the Arms Race with Tomato

In this review, I recount my personal history. My drive to study host-pathogen interactions was to find alternatives for agrochemicals, which was triggered after reading the book "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. I reflect on my research at the Laboratory of Phytopathology at Wageningen University, where I have worked for my entire career on the interaction between Cladosporium fulvum and tomato, and related gene-for-gene pathosystems. I describe different methods used to identify and sequence avirulence (Avr) genes from the pathogen and resistance (R) genes from the host. The major genes involved in classical gene-for-gene interactions have now been identified, and breeders can produce plants with multiple R genes providing durable and environmentally safe protection against pathogens. In some cases, this might require the use of genetically modified plants when R genes cannot be introduced by classical breeding.

How Common Is Parallel Intron Gain? Rapid Evolution Versus Independent Creation in Recently Created Introns in Daphnia

The evolutionary history of the spliceosomal introns that interrupt nuclear genes in eukaryotes has been debated for four decades. Positions of introns show a high degree of coincidence between various eukaryotes, implying either than many modern introns are very old and/or that intron creation is highly biased toward certain sites, leading to rampant parallel intron gain. A series of articles in this and other journals reported evidence for a strikingly high degree of parallel insertion of introns in different alleles of the water flea Daphnia pulex Here, I report several new analyses of these data. Among the 23 loci reported to be undergoing parallel intron gain, I find that in five cases introns reported to be unrelated show extended sequence similarity strongly suggesting that the introns are in fact homologous. Five additional cases show extended conserved motifs between allegedly unrelated introns. For nearly all loci including the 13 remaining loci, at least one intron shows hallmarks of rapid sequence evolution, thwarting confident inference about homology. In addition, I reanalyze gene trees reconstructed from flanking exonic sequences, claimed by the original authors as additional evidence for parallel gain. I show that these phylogenetic trees frequently fail to recover expected relationships, and in any case show relationships not consistent with parallel intron gains. In total, I conclude that the data do not support widespread parallel intron gain in D. pulex These findings strengthen the notion that shared intron positions generally reflect ancestral introns, and thus the notion of complex genes in early eukaryotes.