Nontemplated nucleotide addition prior to polyadenylation: A comparison of Arabidopsis cDNA and genomic sequences
Abstract
A comparison of Arabidopsis DNA sequences revealed that the final nucleotides at the 3′ end of approximately half of the Arabidopsis mRNAs, immediately upstream of the poly(A) tail, differ from the corresponding genomic sequences. This suggests that extra nucleotides were added to these mRNAs at their 3′ termini prior to polyadenylation. Among the mRNAs containing additional nucleotides, approximately 65% had a single additional nucleotide, with the nucleotide C added most often. This nontemplated addition before the addition of the poly(A) sequence could be a major contributing factor to the often observed heterogeneity in transcription products. These findings should be helpful in the elucidation of the mechanisms of mRNA 3′-end processing.
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Footnotes
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Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are at http://www.rnajournal.org/cgi/doi/10.1261/rna.7610404.
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- Accepted July 20, 2004.
- Received April 12, 2004.
- Copyright 2004 by RNA Society