Cl gene cluster encoding several small nucleolar RNAs: A comparison amongst trypanosomatids

Paola Nocua, Carolina Gómez, Claudia Cuervo, Concepción Puerta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that modify RNA molecules such as rRNA and snRNA by guiding 2'-O-ribose methylation (C/D box snoRNA family) and pseudouridylation reactions (H/ACA snoRNA family). H/ACA snoRNAs are also involved in trans-splicing in trypanosomatids. The aims of this work were to characterise the Cl gene cluster that encodes several snoRNAs in Trypanosoma rangeli and compare it with clusters from Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, Leishmania major, Leishmania infantum, Leishmania braziliensis and Leptomonas collosoma. The T. rangeli Cl gene cluster is an 801 base pair (bp) repeat sequence that encodes three C/D (Cl1, Cl2 and Cl4) and three H/ACA (Cl3, Cl5 and Cl6) snoRNAs. In contrast to T. brucei, the Cl3 and Cl5 homologues have not been annotated in the Leishmania or T. cruzi genome projects (http//:www.genedb.org). Of note, snoRNA transcribed regions have a high degree of sequence identity among all species and share gene synteny. Collectively, these findings suggest that the Cl cluster could constitute an interesting target for therapeutic (gene silencing) or diagnostic intervention strategies (PCR-derived tools).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)473-480
Number of pages8
JournalMemorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Volume104
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2009

Keywords

  • C/D snoRNA
  • H/ACA snoRNA
  • Trypanosoma rangeli
  • Trypanosomatid
  • rRNA

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