Splice Junctions Follow a 205-base Ladder
J.S. Beckmann and E.N. Trifonov
Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan,
Israel.
Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences ,
88(6): 2380-2383 (1991).
Abstract
Of all aspects of mRNA maturation the accuracy of intervening sequence
excision and exon ligation is, perhaps, the most enigmatic. Attempts to identify
the essential elements involved in this process have thus far not yielded any
satisfactory answer as to what structural (sequence) features are prerequisite
for the vital precision of this process. In our search for underlying structural
orders we asked whether exons and introns had any positional preferences
within a gene. This analysis led to the unexpected discovery that the DNA
length is synchronized between successive 3' splicing sites as well as between
successive 5' splicing sites, with a frame of approximately 205 base pairs. This
observation reveals additional organization of genes in eukaryotes and,
perhaps, links gene splicing with chromatin structure.
