Systematically frameshifting by deletion of every 4th or 4th and 5th nucleotides during mitochondrial transcription: RNA self-hybridization regulates delRNA expression

Herve Seligmann (1)

1 URMITE - Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes

In mitochondria, secondary structures punctuate post-transcriptional RNA processing. Recently described transcripts match the human mitogenome after systematic deletions of every 4th, respectively every 4th and 5th nucleotides, called delRNAs. Here I explore predicted stem-loop hairpin formation by delRNAs, and their associations with delRNA transcription and detected peptides matching their translation. Despite missing 25, respectively 40% of the nucleotides in the original sequence, del-transformed sequences form significantly more secondary structures than corresponding randomly shuffled sequences, indicating biological function, independently of, and in combination with, previously detected delRNA and thereof translated peptides. Self-hybridization decreases delRNA abundances, indicating downregulation. Systematic deletions of the human mitogenome reveal new, unsuspected coding and structural informations. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Domaines: Maladies infectieuses

Herve Seligmann. Systematically frameshifting by deletion of every 4th or 4th and 5th nucleotides during mitochondrial transcription: RNA self-hybridization regulates delRNA expression. BioSystems, 2016, 142, pp.43-51. ⟨10.1016/j.biosystems.2016.03.009⟩. ⟨hal-01459406⟩