ARS | Publication request: Differentially Spliced Introns in Fungi: Do They Play a Role in Regulation?

Submitted to: Gordon Research Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: June 25, 2004
Publication Date: June 25, 2004
Citation: Brown, D.W., Proctor, R., Butchko, R.A., Cheung, F., Town, C., Kendra, D.F. 2004. Differentially spliced introns in fungi: do they play a role in regulation? Gordon Research Conference Proceedings.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium verticillioides (teleomorph Gibberella moniliformis) is a pathogen of maize world-wide and produces fumonisins, a family of mycotoxins that have been associated with several animal diseases as well as cancer in humans. In collaboration with The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), we prepared nine different cDNA libraries and from them generated over 87,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) that represent over 11,000 unique sequences. A comparative analysis of ESTs from three cDNA libraries, using TIGR's Library Expression Search tool, supported previous work that found that all 15 fumonisin cluster genes are differentially expressed under conditions that support or do not support fumonisin production. A comparison of over 700 ESTs that correspond to FUM genes identified transcripts with differentially spliced introns. Some transcripts appear nonfunctional as translation would yield truncated proteins. The timing and high frequency of occurrence of some of these putative nonfunctional transcripts suggests they could serve a biologically significant role.