Bioinformatic and molecular biological study on ultra-short introns

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24510271
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Genome biology
• Research Institution: Fujita Health University
• Principal Investigator: SHIMADA Makoto 藤田保健衛生大学, 総合医科学研究所, 講師 (00528044)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MAYEDA Akila 藤田保健衛生大学, 総合医科学研究所, 教授 (50212204)
• Research Collaborator: SASAKI Noriko (HARAGUCHI Noriko) 藤田保健衛生大学, 総合医科学研究所, 博士研究員 (90546649)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: イントロン / スプライシング / 進化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We found introns that are shorter than previously expected and published them as “ultra-short introns.”
Because exon/intron boundary is dynamically defined, we evaluated the ultra-short introns using transcript and genome sequences of vertebrate species as well as human. We found seven orthologous ultra-short introns in experimentally validated transcript sequences. In case of other ultra-short introns, few transcript sequences are available in non-human species. Moreover, splice di-nucleotides sequences of these ultra-short introns scarcely conserved in genome sequences. These results suggest that at least some of ultra-short introns have been appeared within human or closely related species and/or are specifically expressed depending on cell types or development stages.

Free Research Field

ゲノム進化学