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PMID: 1378589 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Origin of the Alu family: a family of Alu-like monomers gave birth to the left and the right arms of the Alu elements.

Nucleic acids research ·Vol. 20 ·No. 13 ·1992-07-11 ·Pages 3397-401

Quentin Y

Abstract

The Alu dimeric elements are a common feature of the primate genomes, where they constitute a family of related sequences (1). The identification of a free left Alu monomer (FLAM) family plus a free right Alu monomer (FRAM) family suggests that the dimeric structure results from the fusion of a FLAM sequence with a FRAM sequence (2). Here, we describe a very old Alu-like monomeric family, referred to as FAM for fossil Alu monomer. This family arose from a 7SL RNA sequence and gave birth to the FLAM and FRAM families. From the results obtained, the evolution of the Alu family can be subdivided into two phases. The first phase, which involves only monomeric elements, is characterized by deep remodelling of the progenitor sequences and ends with the appearance of the first Alu dimeric element through the fusion of a FLAM and a FRAM element. The second phase, still in progress, starts with the first Alu dimeric element. This phase is characterized by the stabilization of the progenitor sequences.

Related Genes
7SL-A 7SL-B
MeSH Terms
Base Sequence DNA Transposable Elements/genetics Humans Molecular Sequence Data Pseudogenes/genetics RNA/genetics RNA, Small Cytoplasmic Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid/genetics Ribonucleoproteins/genetics Signal Recognition Particle
Chemicals
DNA Transposable Elements RNA, Small Cytoplasmic Ribonucleoproteins Signal Recognition Particle RNA
Authors & Affiliations
1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Quentin Y
Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM 87545.
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40 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
Nucleic acids research
Abbr.
Nucleic Acids Res
ISSN
0305-1048
DOI
10.1093/nar/20.13.3397
Published
1992-07-11
Pages
3397-401
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
0411011
PMCID
PMC312495
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM-37812 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1093/nar/20.13.3397 PMC Full Text View journal details
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