Home > A. Molecular pathology > introns
introns
Saturday 14 January 2006
Eukaryotic genes are interrupted by spliceosomal introns, which are removed from gene transcripts.
The number of introns per gene varies by more than two orders of magnitude between species, implying that there has been extensive intron loss and/or gain throughout eukaryotic evolution.
References
Irimia M, Penny D, Roy SW. Coevolution of genomic intron number and splice sites. Trends Genet. 2007 Apr 17; PMID: 17442445
Roy SW, Gilbert W. The evolution of spliceosomal introns: patterns, puzzles and progress. Nat Rev Genet. 2006 Mar;7(3):211-21. PMID: 16485020
Roy SW. Intron-rich ancestors. Trends Genet. 2006 Sep;22(9):468-71. PMID: 16857287
Jeffares DC, Mourier T, Penny D. The biology of intron gain and loss. Trends Genet. 2006 Jan;22(1):16-22. PMID: 16290250