Neutral evolution of 'non-coding'complementary DNAs
Nature, 2004•nature.com
Abstract (Arising from: Y. Okazaki et al. Nature420, 563–573 200210.1038/nature01266;
Okazaki et al. reply) Okazaki et al. have argued that as many as 15,815 of 33,409 non-
redundant mouse complementary DNAs may represent functional RNA genes, on the basis
of their findings that some of these cDNAs are confirmed by expressed sequence tagging
and are found near CpG islands or polyadenylation signals—although many are expressed
at such low levels that they could not be detected by microarray analysis. We show here that …
Okazaki et al. reply) Okazaki et al. have argued that as many as 15,815 of 33,409 non-
redundant mouse complementary DNAs may represent functional RNA genes, on the basis
of their findings that some of these cDNAs are confirmed by expressed sequence tagging
and are found near CpG islands or polyadenylation signals—although many are expressed
at such low levels that they could not be detected by microarray analysis. We show here that …
Abstract
(Arising from: Y. Okazaki et al. Nature420, 563–573 200210.1038/nature01266; Okazaki et al. reply)
Okazaki et al. have argued that as many as 15,815 of 33,409 non-redundant mouse complementary DNAs may represent functional RNA genes, on the basis of their findings that some of these cDNAs are confirmed by expressed sequence tagging and are found near CpG islands or polyadenylation signals — although many are expressed at such low levels that they could not be detected by microarray analysis. We show here that conservation of these ‘non-coding’ cDNAs in rats or humans is no better than in an evolutionarily neutral control. Our results indicate that they are either non-functional or, if they are functional, are specific to a given species.
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