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Evolution of box C/D RNP structure and function
Author(s) -
Maxwell Stuart,
Qu Guosheng,
Gag Keith,
Biswas Shyamasri,
vanNues Rob,
Watkins Nicholas
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.203.3
Subject(s) - small nucleolar rna , rna , biology , nucleotide , guide rna , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , non coding rna , genome , genome editing , gene
Box C/D RNPs guide the 2′‐O‐ribose methylation of target nucleotides in both archaeal and eukaryotic rRNAs. These evolutionarily ancient nucleotide modification complexes contain two functional centers assembled around C/D and C'/D' motifs in the box C/D RNA. Previous work revealed that the terminal C/D and internal C'/D' RNPs of the archaeal sRNP are spatially coupled for function. Examination of the eukaryotic box C/D snoRNP has now demonstrated that the C/D and C'/D' RNPs are also spatially coupled for function. This is unexpected as the larger eukaryotic snoRNPs exhibit variable inter‐RNP distances which had previously implied lack of functional coupling. Thus, spatial and functional coupling of the C/D and C'/D' RNPs are evolutionarily conserved features of all box C/D nucleotide modification complexes. Notable nevertheless is the differential RNA‐binding capability of the highly conserved archaeal L7Ae/eukaryotic 15.5kD core protein which initiates archaeal/eukaryotic RNP assembly. While L7Ae recognizes both C/D and C'/D' motifs, eukaryotic 15.5kD recognizes only the terminal CD/motif. We now propose that the altered binding capability of eukaryotic 15.5kD has facilitated evolution of eukaryotic box C/D snoRNP by evolving larger and more varied snoRNA structures with the ultimate consequence of expanding snoRNP function. This work was supported by NSF Grant MCB 0543741.