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Cited by 17Chromosomal and Genetic VariationsGenomics and Phylogenetic StudiesRNA Research and Splicing

Intron size minimisation in teleosts

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Jakt, Lars Martin, Dubin, Arseny, Johansen, Steinar Daae·2022·BMC Genomics
DOI 10.1186/s12864-022-08760-wPMC PMC9438311
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Abstract

Background: Spliceosomal introns are parts of primary transcripts that are removed by RNA splicing. Although introns apparently do not contribute to the function of the mature transcript, in vertebrates they comprise the majority of the transcribed region increasing the metabolic cost of transcription. The persistence of long introns across evolutionary time suggests functional roles that can offset this metabolic cost. The teleosts comprise one of the largest vertebrate clades. They have unusually compact and variable genome sizes and provide a suitable system for analysing intron evolution. Results: We have analysed intron lengths in 172 vertebrate genomes and show that teleost intron lengths are relatively short, highly variable and bimodally distributed. Introns that were long in teleosts were also found to be long in mammals and were more likely to be found in regulatory genes and to contain conserved sequences. Our results argue that intron length has decreased in parallel in a non-random manner throughout teleost evolution and represent a deviation from the ancestral state. Conclusion: Our observations indicate an accelerated rate of intron size evolution in the teleosts and that teleost introns can be divided into two classes by their length. Teleost intron sizes have evolved primarily as a side-effect of genome size evolution and small genomes are dominated by short introns (<256 base pairs). However, a non-random subset of introns has resisted this process across the teleosts and these are more likely have functional roles in all vertebrate clades.

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  • Teleost introns fall into two functional classes: compact introns containing primarily sequences necessary for efficient splicing, and long introns disproportionately harboring regulatory elements and conserved sequences maintained across vertebrates.

    “This is consistent with the observation that teleost introns fall into two functional classes: compact introns containing primarily sequences necessary for efficient splicing, and long introns disproportionately harboring regulatory elements and conserved sequences maintained across vertebrates (68).”

    From Convergent genome streamlining accompanies independent miniaturization in the world’s smallest fishes (2026) · cites this paper as [68]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Jakt, L. M., Dubin, A., & Johansen, S. D.
Affiliations
Nord University (NO)
Corresponding author
Jakt, Lars Martin
ORCID
Venue
BMC Genomics
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2022-09-01
Volume
23
Issue
1
Pages
628-628
ISSN
1471-2164 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12864-022-08760-w
PMC
PMC9438311
OpenAlex
W4294025564
Cited by
17
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6
FWCI
2.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Genomics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Nord universitet
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA Research and Splicing
Keywords
intron length, teleosts, RNA splicing, genome size evolution, vertebrate genomes, regulatory genes, conserved sequences, parallel evolution, ancestral states
MeSH terms
Animals, Exons, Introns, Mammals, Vertebrates, Genome, Evolution, Molecular

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