The function of RNA is subtly modulated by post-transcriptional modifications. Here, we report an important crosstalk in the covalent modification of two classes of RNAs. We demonstrate that yeast Kre33 and human NAT10 are RNA cytosine acetyltransferases with, surprisingly, specificity toward both 18S rRNA and tRNAs. tRNA acetylation requires the intervention of a specific and conserved adaptor...

OBJECTIVE To determine the optimum reaction conditions and detection limits of PCR assay for identification of Pentatrichomonas hominis in DNA extracted from canine feces. SAMPLE POPULATION DNA extracted from feces of 4 dogs with diarrhea from which trichomonads were observed, 81 dogs that had feces submitted to a diagnostic laboratory, and 19 dogs residing in a laboratory animal facility. ...

Stable resistance to the anthelmintic hycanthone can be produced in the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni by exposing immature parasites in mice to the drug. Within a single generation, genomic rearrangements, detected as rRNA-encoding DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), accompany the appearance of resistance in this model. One of these RFLPs, an approximately 3.6-kilobas...

The portion of the internal transcribed spacer 1 found on 20S pre-rRNA accumulates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking 5'----3' exoribonuclease 1, showing that an endonucleolytic cleavage at the 3' terminus of 18S rRNA is involved in the 20S pre-rRNA to 18S mature rRNA conversion. Smaller fragments of the spacer sequence are also found. The exoribonuclease may be involved as a cytoplasmic RNase...

Informational genes such as those encoding rRNAs are related to transcription and translation, and are thus considered to be rarely subject to lateral gene transfer (LGT) between different organisms, compared to operational genes having metabolic functions. However, several lines of evidence have suggested or confirmed the occurrence of LGT of DNA segments encoding evolutionarily variable regio...

Marram grass (Ammophila arenaria L.), a sand-stabilizing plant species in coastal dune areas, is affected by a specific pathosystem thought to include both plant-pathogenic fungi and nematodes. To study the fungal component of this pathosystem, we developed a method for the cultivation-independent detection and characterization of fungi infecting plant roots based on denaturing gradient gel ele...

Correct docking of U3 small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) on pre-ribosomal RNA (pre-rRNA) is essential for rRNA processing to produce 18S rRNA. In this report, we have used Xenopus oocytes to characterize the structural requirements of the U3 snoRNA 3'-hinge interaction with region E1 of the external transcribed spacer (ETS) of pre-rRNA. This interaction is crucial for docking to initiate rRNA process...

The 18S rRNA sequences of 12 molluscs, representing the extant classes Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, and Caudofoveata, were determined and compared with selected known 18S rRNA sequences of Metazoa, including other Mollusca. These data do not provide support for a close relationship between Platyhelminthes (Turbellaria) and Mollusca, but rather suggest that the latter group ...