Molecular Evolution of Serine/Arginine Splicing Factors Family (SR) by Positive Selection

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Escobar, Andrés J. Gutiérrez | Arenas, Aylan Farid | Gómez-Marin, Jorge Enrique

Affiliations: Grupo de Parasitología Molecular (GEPAMOL), Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad del Quindío, Armenia, Colombia

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel./Fax: +57 67 460168; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The serine-rich (SR) protein family is involved in the pre-mRNA splicing process and the DNA sequences of the corresponding genes are highly conserved in the metazoan organisms. The mammalian SR proteins consist of one or two characteristic RNA binding domains (RBD), containing the signature sequences RDAEDA and SWQDLKD and a RS (arginine/serine-rich) domain. We used the amino acid and nucleotide sequences deposited in GenBank and Swiss-Prot databases to perform a phylogenetic analysis using bioinformatics tools. The results of the phylogenetic trees suggest that this family has evolved by several gene duplication events as a result of a positive selection mechanism.

Keywords: SR protein family, splicing, Toxoplasma, molecular evolution

Journal: In Silico Biology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 347-350, 2006