*Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa;
Department of Botany, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois;
and
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
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Abstract |
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Introduction |
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Spliceosomal introns generally contain limited conserved sequences and may reach several thousand nucleotides in length. How these introns spread within and among genes remain central but largely unresolved questions in evolutionary biology (Gilbert 1978
; Palmer and Logsdon 1991
; Logsdon et al. 1995
; Logsdon, Stoltzfus, and Doolittle 1998
; Long et al. 1998
) because few proven cases of recent and pervasive intron invasion are known (Logsdon 1998
). We report here an abundance of spliceosomal introns in both the SSU and the LSU rDNA genes of Euascomycetes fungi. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that these introns are restricted to a monophyletic group within the Euascomycetes and that many have originated relatively recently within this lineage. The Euascomycetes rDNAs provide a concrete example of a recent intron invasion into a family of genes that is otherwise universally free of spliceosomal introns. This study uses the rDNA introns and their flanking exon regions as a model to address fundamental questions about how spliceosomal introns spread and how their sequences evolve.
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Materials and Methods |
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RT-PCR Experiment
RT-PCR analyses were done (as in Bhattacharya, Stickel, and Sogin 1993
) with Stereocaulon paschale and Lobaria quercizans to test for intron presence/absence in mature rRNAs. For Stereocaulon, cDNA synthesis was initiated with a primer complementary to the 3' terminus of the SSU rRNA (Medlin et al. 1988
), and PCR was done with two primers that recognized sites flanking the intron at position 330 (numbering based on the Escherichia coli gene) in the SSU rRNA. The 5' primer was 160 nt upstream of the intron (5'-GGTGATTCATAATAACTCAACG-3'), whereas the 3' primer was 654 nt downstream (5'-ACACCGTCCGATCCCCAGTCGG-3'). For Lobaria, cDNA synthesis was initiated with a primer complementary to a region near the 3' terminus of the LSU rRNA (5'-TTCATTCGGCCGGTGAGTTG-3'), and PCR was done with primers that flanked the spliceosomal intron at position 678. The 5' PCR primer was 48 nt upstream of the 678 intron (5'-GCACCATCGACCGATCCTGA-3'), whereas the 3' primer was 210 nt downstream (5'-TAGGTTAAGGCTGTTTCAGC-3') of this intron.
Alignment and Phylogenetic Analyses
All alignments were generated using the program Sequencher, version 3.0 (Gene Codes), and manually optimized. With the exception of Arthrorhaphis citrinella, if phylogenetic analyses revealed an unexpected result, a second sequence was obtained from a distant population of the same species or from a closely related species. If these two sequences were not found to be sister to each other in the phylogenetic tree, additional sequences were obtained until two of them would form a monophyletic entity. The remaining orphan sequences were discarded.
The combined alignment included 40 species and 6,494 characters. A total of 5,692 sites were excluded from the phylogenetic analysis. These sites included constant characters, all introns, and regions that were ambiguously aligned due to the presence of gaps. Of the remaining 802 characters, 516 were parsimony-informative. The unambiguously aligned portions of the SSU and LSU rDNA genes were each subjected to a specific symmetric step-matrix, taking into account the estimated empirical frequency of all changes (i.e., all six substitution types and four single-position indel types) for these regions as described in Lutzoni (1997)
. The rare, unambiguously aligned gaps were treated as a fifth character state. Ambiguously aligned portions of the alignment that included no more than 15 different sequences were coded for a maximum of 15 character states per character using the program INAASE, version 0.2c1 (Lutzoni, et al. 2000
). A total of 16 ambiguous regions fit that criterion, forming 16 additional characters, for a total of 6,510 characters, 532 of which were parsimony-informative. Each of these 16 coded characters was subjected to a specific symmetric step-matrix accounting for the optimal number of changes between all possible combinations of two sequences found within that ambiguous region. The combined phylogenetic analysis of these 40 species was performed using maximum parsimony as the optimization criterion with 1,000 random-addition sequences, TBR swapping, and MULTREES selected. Bootstrap support (Felsenstein 1985
) was estimated by 1,000 replicates, implementing full heuristic searches with five random-addition sequences per replicate. All phylogenetic analyses were performed with PAUP* (Swofford 1999
).
Tests of the Proto-Splice Site Hypothesis
We used two statistical tests to determine whether sequences flanking Euascomycetes spliceosomal introns showed a nonrandom base composition. In the first method, we used a likelihood ratio test for multinomial data (Sokal and Rohlf 1995
) to assess the goodness of fit of the MAGR motif hypothesis (hereinafter, the intron position is indicated with "") to the flanking sequence data observed for 27 events of spliceosomal intron insertion into Euascomycetes rDNA. The null hypothesis specified that nucleotide usage at the four proto-splice site nucleotides was random and depended on the nucleotide composition of Euascomycetes SSU and LSU rDNA sequences in general. These expected nucleotide probabilities were estimated from the observed nucleotide frequencies over all sites for 80 rDNA sequences (A = 26%, C = 22%, G = 27%, T = 25%). The alternative hypothesis specified that the null hypothesis was not true and allowed the nucleotide probabilities to be free of the constraint that they sum to 1. These probabilities were determined from the observed frequencies of nucleotides at each of the four flanking sites for 27 intron insertion events. The likelihood ratio test statistic (-2 log
) was determined for each flanking site (one degree of freedom each) and then summed over sites to test the MAGR hypothesis. The large sample distribution of the cumulative test was a chi-square distribution with four degrees of freedom. Because the expected counts for the four possible nucleotides at each of the four different positions were relatively small (i.e., less than 7), we also simulated nucleotide frequencies in the motif (1,000 trials) under the null hypothesis of random base usage. The cumulative likelihood ratio test statistic was determined for each simulated data set in order to construct its probability distribution under the null model.
In the second examination of flanking-sequence composition, we calculated the Pearson's chi-square statistic for each of the four proto-splice site nucleotides to determine whether individual nucleotide positions at these sites showed a significant departure from the null expectation of random base usage. For data obtained from 27 spliceosomal intron insertion events, one cell in the chi-square test was for the count of nucleotides predicted by the MAGR hypothesis (e.g., G) and the other was for all other nucleotides (e.g., A/C/T). The significance of each of these tests was determined using one degree of freedom.
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Results and Discussion |
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To test whether the spliceosomal introns are present in the mature transcript, PCR was done with cDNA copies of rRNA from the lichen-forming fungi S. paschale and L. quercizans. Comparison of the fragments resulting from this experiment showed that the introns were not present in the mature rRNA sequences (fig. 3 ). Cubero, Bridge, and Crespo (2000)
also used the RT-PCR method to show that multiple spliceosomal introns were not present in the mature SSU rRNA of Physconia species. The cDNA fragments from Stereocaulon and Lobaria were sequenced over the intron region and compared with the homologous genomic region. This analysis confirmed the 330 intron insertion site in Stereocaulon and the 678 intron site in Lobaria. In addition, we did Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA from Stereocaulon using a probe fragment of size 930 bp that encoded the 330 intron (70 bp) and flanking SSU rDNA sequence. The results of this analysis showed single fragments in EcoRI- and BamHI-digested DNAs (results not shown), consistent with the idea that the 330 intron is restricted to the SSU rDNA gene and is not a member of a mobile family of transposable elements. We recognize, however, that sites of intron insertion, evidence of intron excision from mature rRNA, and intron distribution within the nuclear genome need to be verified for each intron in different species. Future studies in our labs will address these issues and test the alternative hypotheses that some insertions remain in the mature rRNA and that some rRNA introns may not be limited to these loci in Euascomycetes. The finding of nonspliced spliceosomal intron-like insertions would be of great interest. Of particular relevance is the case in which phylogenetic analyses show that an intron which is excised in all ancestors is no longer recognized by the spliceosome in a descendant and remains in the mature rRNA. Such inactivated intron sequences will provide important insights into the evolution of splicing signals. We predict, however, that virtually all spliceosomal introns will be excised from the pre-rRNA, because these introns generally interrupt highly conserved regions of the coding regions (e.g., the sites of mRNA and tRNA interaction; Green and Noller 1997
).
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Spliceosomal Intron Origin
Spliceosomal introns are believed to originate primarily through two processes: transposable element/group II intron insertion or duplication of a preexisting intron (Palmer and Logsdon 1991
; Purugganan and Wessler 1992
; Logsdon, Stoltzfus, and Doolittle 1998
; Nouaud et al. 1999
). Although transposable elements can sometimes insert so that they behave like spliceosomal introns (e.g., Giroux et al. 1994
), they generally result in the introduction of insertions or deletions (indels) of sequences at the insertion site (Patthy 1996
). Analyses of intron-flanking sequences do not support the idea that indels are normally associated with intron insertion into protein-coding regions (e.g., Dibb and Newman 1989
; Weber and Kabsch 1994
; Bhattacharya and Weber 1997
). In addition, recent analyses underline the extensive genetic changes (e.g., origin of a new promoter, incorporation of genomic sequences) that are required for the origin of an intron within a "domesticated" P element insertion in Drosophila species (Nouaud et al. 1999
). This type of data argues against a general transposon model of intron spread. In the group II intron scenario, spliceosomal introns originate from autocatalytic group II introns located in organellar genomes that have been transferred to the nucleus and thereafter inserted themselves into nuclear genes through endonuclease-dependent reverse-splicing (retrohoming; Saldanha et al. 1993
; Belfort and Perlman 1995
; Zimmerly et al. 1995
; Eskes et al. 1997
; Cousineau et al. 1998
). Recently, a group II intron has been found that can reverse-splice into RNA in an endonuclease-independent manner (Cousineau et al. 2000
). This latter mechanism is the same as that first proposed for group I intron spread (Cech 1985
; Sharp 1985
; see below) and can lead to intron insertion into heterologous RNA sites in the sense strand. In both cases of group II intron insertion, the autocatalytic capacity of the intron allows its removal (albeit inefficiently; Cousineau et al. 2000
) from precursor RNA, and over time, the insertions are presumptively reduced to spliceosomal introns (Cavalier-Smith 1991
; Perlman and Podar 1996
). The demonstration of endonuclease-independent reverse-splicing offers the first direct link between group II and spliceosomal intron origin. This finding also suggests that reverse-splicing may be an important mechanism of intron spread (Eickbush 2000
).
The alternative theory for the "recent" (i.e., not implicated in the assembly of ancient genes; see de Souza et al. [1998]
and Roy et al. [1999
] for details) origin of spliceosomal introns postulates that introns are spread via duplication of existing sequences. Reverse trans-splicing is thought to facilitate insertion of existing introns into RNAs with the splicing machinery itself responsible for the spread of these sequences into new sites both within and between transcripts (Sharp 1985
; Fink 1987
; Martinez, Martin, and Cerff 1989
). After reverse-splicing, reverse transcription and homologous recombination of the intron-containing cDNA with the genomic copy would result in intron lateral transfer. An appealing aspect of the reverse-splicing model is that it facilitates the spread of intact introns containing the conserved donor, acceptor, and branch sites into novel RNA positions without the need for these regions to evolve into the sequences required for excision. In addition, if introns are reverse-spliced into exon sequences which have a high affinity for splicing factors ("proto-splice" sites; Dibb and Newman 1989
), then they would be efficiently recognized in the transcript that contains the laterally transferred intron (Stephens and Schneider 1992
). Providing a mechanism for "clean" intron insertion, as would result from reverse-splicing of existing spliceosomal introns, is important because many introns interrupt highly conserved genes which may exist in single copies (Dibb and Newman 1989
; Bhattacharya and Weber 1997
). Imperfect insertion events could wreak havoc in single-copy genes because the introns would most certainly result in loss-of-function mutations, possibly leading to grave consequences for the organism (most obviously in haploids). The reverse-splicing (i.e., mediated by the spliceosome) model therefore provides an explanation for intron spread that does not depend on external agents such as transposable elements/group II introns or the requirement for insertions to evolve into intron-like sequences to drive frequent and recent intron lateral transfers. Given that reverse-splicing may be an important mechanism for rRNA spliceosomal intron origin, are there preferred sites for intron insertion?
Testing the Proto-Splice Site Hypothesis
The proto-splice site hypothesis posits that there are target sequences (e.g., MAGR; Dibb and Newman 1989
) that are preferred sites for intron insertion. The proto-splice site (at least a "general" proto-splice site) hypothesis, however, was not unequivocally supported by a recent analysis of intron-flanking sequences in the pre-mRNA genes of six model eukaryotes (Long et al. 1998
; but see Logsdon 1998
). These analyses show that introns are not evenly distributed over codon positions (phase 0 introns are favored; Tomita, Shimuzu, and Brutlag 1996
) and fail to show the existence of a symmetric intron distribution with respect to codon structure, a prediction of the proto-splice site hypothesis (Long et al. 1998
). Given these conflicting ideas, we studied the sequences flanking the rDNA spliceosomal introns to determine if they encoded a conserved target sequence for intron insertion (fig. 4A
). It is important to note that the proto-splice site need not be perfectly conserved in different organisms but rather is a set of nucleotides that, with some statistical uncertainty, shows a nonrandom sequence pattern at sites flanking introns. It is conceivable that proto-splice sites may differ between lineages, reflecting, for example, differences in how spliceosomes recognize introns (e.g., exon definition hypothesis; Berget 1995
; McCullough and Berget 1997
). If this is true, Euascomycetes may have a pattern different from that found in animals or other fungi.
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To gain a better understanding of the pattern of conservation, chi-square tests were conducted to examine the goodness of fit of the MAGR hypothesis to the observed intron insertion data. With this analysis, we wanted to determine which of the sites in the MAGR motif was contributing most strongly to the finding of a significant departure from random base usage. The results of the chi-square analysis showed that the -2 (A), -1 (G), and +1 (R) sites differed significantly from the null model, whereas the -3 (M) site showed a base composition that was not significantly different from the null model (fig. 4C ). In addition, the +1 (R) site in the rRNA proto-splice site is essentially the G nucleotide, and the A contributes little to the signal at this site. Usage of G alone at the +1 site in the chi-square analysis resulted in P < 0.005 (chi-square value = 25.98) in support of the nonrandom model, whereas A alone did not differ significantly from the null model. Our analyses provide, therefore, support for the existence of a proto-splice site in rRNA genes and show that this sequence is closely related to that proposed in pre-mRNA genes.
The close sequence similarity between the Euascomycetes rRNA and pre-mRNA proto-splice sites suggests that our findings are of general importance in understanding spliceosomal intron spread in nuclear coding regions. Interesting questions that still need to be answered concern the extent of the proto-splice site in rRNAs. Inspection of figure 4A shows that in addition to the AGG motif, positions -8 (G), -7 (G), and +7 (A) also show nonrandom nucleotide usage. It is clearly possible that the rRNA proto-splice site extends to bases outside of the proposed AGG pattern. These more distal positions could play an important role in splice site recognition in pre-RNA that has not yet been recognized. The current data set of 27 distinct intron patterns is, however, not large enough to address this issue. One would, for instance, predict that as one moves farther from the intron insertion site, nucleotide positions will be encountered which show nonrandom usage by chance alone. Also of concern is the fact that the 27 distinct patterns studied here are not drawn from 27 independent genes because of the existence of multiple unique patterns in some genes (e.g., Gyalecta jenensis). For these reasons, we restricted the present analysis to testing the a priori hypothesis of a MAGR proto-splice site. The availability of a larger data set will allow us to ask broader questions about patterns of sequence conservation at spliceosomal intron insertion sites (unpublished data).
Two possible explanations for the conserved sequence flanking rDNA introns are that (1) the AGG motif is a favored site for intron insertion (proto-splice site model), or (2) the AGG motif results from strong selection pressure postinsertion, to create a splicing signal required for efficient intron excision (Newman and Norman 1992
). To distinguish between these two scenarios, we used as a model the sequences flanking LSU rRNA intron insertion sites in the Euascomycetes with and without introns (32 taxa), as well as eight Ascomycota outside this lineage. This analysis showed that sequences flanking virtually all of the intron insertion sites (mostly AGG) were conserved in the outgroup Ascomycota, as well as in Euascomycetes with or without introns. This same pattern was also found with the SSU rRNA introns. An interesting exception was the G. jenensis 711 intron, in which 39 LSU rDNA sequences in our data set without an intron at the 711 site had the AGA motif, whereas Gyalecta, the sole taxon with the 711 intron, had the AGG motif. This may be an example of postinsertion selection for the AGG splice site. The only other taxon to have the AGG motif was Trapeliopsis granulosa, which is closely related to Gyalecta (fig. 1
).
Taken together, our data are consistent with the idea that most rDNA spliceosomal introns have been inserted (or retained) in conserved regions that primarily encode the AGG motif. This result supports Dibb and Newman's (1989)
hypothesis that proto-splice sites (pre)existed in genes within outgroup taxa lacking introns. Proto-splice sites in rRNA genes appear to mark favored sites of intron insertion rather than sites of intron loss; the 711 site may be an exception (Long et al. 1998
). On the basis of this evidence, our working hypothesis is that the fungal rDNA spliceosomal introns have arisen from reverse-splicing and that they have been targeted into a conserved AGG proto-splice site. An important advantage of our system is that all rDNA introns, whether they are relatively old or new, were presumptively inserted after the origin of the Euascomycetes. Given this, rRNA genes which have never contained introns (i.e., taxa outside the Euascomycetes) can be used to understand the effects of intron insertion on flanking-sequence evolution.
Most of the introns appear to have a recent and restricted distribution within the Euascomycetes, with the exception of the 330 and 393 SSU rRNA and the 678 LSU rRNA introns. It is, however, difficult to determine whether these introns result from multiple "hits" on favored sites or from a single origin in the Euascomycetes ancestor followed by widespread loss. The lack of bootstrap support for nodes joining lineages containing the 330 intron leaves the origin of this intron unresolved. In addition, the presence of introns at positions 330, 331, and 332 suggests that this rRNA region may be prone to multiple independent insertions or intron sliding (e.g., Cubero, Bridge, and Crespo 2000
). For these reasons, we did not attempt to account for the origin of each rRNA intron. It is likely that additional intron data and more resolved host trees will ultimately allow us to understand the contributions of rare origins followed by stability, loss, and sliding to the creation of the observed intron distribution.
Intron Positions and rRNA Structure
A prediction of the reverse-splicing model is that rDNA spliceosomal introns should be clustered in regions that are accessible to reverse-splicing "attack" by free introns (e.g., not be hidden by rRNA or ribosome secondary/tertiary structure; Woodson and Cech 1989
; Roman and Woodson 1995
). These regions should be rich in group I introns which are also believed to spread in nuclear rRNAs through reverse-splicing (Woodson and Cech 1989
; Bhattacharya, Friedl, and Damberger 1996
). Evidence for reverse-splicingmediated integration of the Tetrahymena thermophila group I intron into preferred sites in E. coli rRNAs has been shown in vivo (Roman and Woodson 1998
). To test the prediction, we mapped spliceosomal intron sites on E. coli rRNA secondary structures (retrieved from the Comparative RNA web site; Gutell 1996
). This analysis shows that most of the spliceosomal intron sites are clustered and/or located in close proximity to regions that are interrupted by group I introns, consistent with an origin through reverse-splicing. For example, the 678, 711, 775, 776, 784, and 787 LSU rDNA spliceosomal introns are concentrated in an rRNA secondary-structure region that also harbors two group I introns in ascomycetes (at positions 798 and 800; see fig. 5A
). Similarly, the 1091 LSU rDNA spliceosomal intron site is bounded by two group I intron sites in the ascomycetes (1090 and 1094; fig. 5B
; unpublished data), and the 1510 SSU rDNA spliceosomal intron is in close proximity to group I introns at positions 1506, 1512, 1516, and 1521 (fig. 5C
). In fact, within the LSU rRNA regions that we studied, only three spliceosomal introns (711, 858, and 978) were not found in close proximity (i.e., neighboring sites in primary or secondary structure) to other spliceosomal or group I introns. In the SSU rRNA, only the 265 spliceosomal intron occurred in a region not containing other introns.
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Our data suggest that the initial intron invasion likely occurred soon after the origin of the Euascomycetes (fig. 1
) and that upon establishment, rDNA introns spread within many lineages. It is important to note that this origin of the spliceosomal intron occurred in a portion of the tree in which the origin(s) of the lichen symbiosis is likely to have taken place (unpublished data). The transition to this symbiotic state was a major event in the evolution of fungi and ascomycetes. One fifth of all fungi form a lichen symbiosis (Hawksworth 1988a
). More than 98% of the lichen-forming fungi are classified within the Ascomycota, representing about half of the entire Ascomycota diversity (Hawksworth 1988b
). The Ascomycota is the largest of the four fungal phyla. Except for Chaetosphaeria and Melanochaeta (pyrenomycetes), all species reported to date with spliceosomal introns have been from lichen-forming fungi or from nonlichenized fungi that are known (unpublished data) to be derived from a lichenized ancestor (e.g., Capronia and Phialophora, Chaetothyriales; see fig. 1
).
In conclusion, we suggest that the spliceosome itself and not an external source (e.g., transposable elements, group II introns) may give rise to Euascomycetes rDNA introns through aberrant reverse-splicing of free introns into the abundant rRNA transcripts (as has been suggested for fungal snRNAs; Tani and Ohshima 1989
). This is not a new idea (Sharp 1985
; Fink 1987
; Martinez, Martin, and Cerff 1989
; Rzhetsky et al. 1997
), but it is one that we are able to extend to a recent intron invasion within taxa of reasonably well known phylogenetic relationships. The close proximity of most rDNA spliceosomal introns to other spliceosomal or group I introns also suggests that particular rRNA regions may be preferred sites for insertion. Our results therefore provide an explanation for the remarkable widespread occurrence of spliceosomal introns in Euascomycetes rDNA genes and implicate reverse-splicing as the mechanism of intron origin. This provides a conceptual basis for addressing, in future studies, both the mechanism and the site of rDNA and, by extension, pre-mRNA spliceosomal intron insertion. An important general implication of our model is that it suggests that the positions of spliceosomal introns in protein-coding genes may also be explained by the combination of a proto-splice site in a pre-mRNA region that is available for reverse-splicing attack by the spliceosome.
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Acknowledgements |
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Footnotes |
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1 Keywords: Ascomycetes
group I introns
lichen symbiosis
proto-splice site
rDNA
reverse-splicing
spliceosomal intron origin
2 Address for correspondence and reprints: Debashish Bhattacharya, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, 239 Biology Building, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1324. E-mail: dbhattac{at}blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
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