Determinants of genome-wide distribution and evolution of uORFs in eukaryotes

Hong Zhang, Yirong Wang, Xinkai Wu, Xiaolu Tang, Changcheng Wu and Jian Lu ()
Additional contact information
Hong Zhang: Peking University
Yirong Wang: Peking University
Xinkai Wu: Peking University
Xiaolu Tang: Peking University
Changcheng Wu: Peking University
Jian Lu: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) play widespread regulatory functions in modulating mRNA translation in eukaryotes, but the principles underlying the genomic distribution and evolution of uORFs remain poorly understood. Here, we analyze ~17 million putative canonical uORFs in 478 eukaryotic species that span most of the extant taxa of eukaryotes. We demonstrate how positive and purifying selection, coupled with differences in effective population size (Ne), has shaped the contents of uORFs in eukaryotes. Besides, gene expression level is important in influencing uORF occurrences across genes in a species. Our analyses suggest that most uORFs might play regulatory roles rather than encode functional peptides. We also show that the Kozak sequence context of uORFs has evolved across eukaryotic clades, and that noncanonical uORFs tend to have weaker suppressive effects than canonical uORFs in translation regulation. This study provides insights into the driving forces underlying uORF evolution in eukaryotes.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21394-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21394-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21394-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().