U12 minor spliceosomal RNA is formed from U12 small nuclear (snRNA), together with U4atac/U6atac, U5, and U11 snRNAs and associated proteins, forms a spliceosome that cleaves a divergent class of low-abundance pre-mRNA introns. Although the U12 sequence is very divergent from that of U2, the two are functionally analogous.[1]

Structure

The predicted secondary structure of U12 RNA is published,[2]. However, the alternative single hairpin in the 3' end shown here seems to better match the alignment of divergent Drosophila melanogaster and Arabidopsis thaliana sequences.[3] The sequences U12 introns that are spliced out are collected in a biological database called the U12 intron database.

References

  1. ^ Tarn WY, Steitz JA (April 1997). "Pre-mRNA splicing: the discovery of a new spliceosome doubles the challenge". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 22 (4): 132–7. doi:10.1016/S0968-0004(97)01018-9. PMID 9149533.
  2. ^ Shukla GC, Padgett RA (April 1999). "Conservation of functional features of U6atac and U12 snRNAs between vertebrates and higher plants". RNA. 5 (4): 525–38. doi:10.1017/S1355838299982213. PMC 1369779. PMID 10199569.
  3. ^ Otake LR, Scamborova P, Hashimoto C, Steitz JA (February 2002). "The divergent U12-type spliceosome is required for pre-mRNA splicing and is essential for development in Drosophila". Molecular Cell. 9 (2): 439–46. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(02)00441-0. PMID 11864616.

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