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Nucleic Acids Research, 2001, Vol. 29, No. 22 4674-4683
© 2001 Oxford University Press

The abundance of sterile transcripts in Giardia lamblia

Heidi G. Elmendorf*, Steven M. Singer and Theodore E. Nash

Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-0425, USA

The protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia synthesizes a diverse and surprisingly abundant array of sterile transcripts unable to code for proteins. Random sampling of cDNAs from two evolutionarily divergent Giardia strains indicates that ~20% of cDNAs in the libraries represent polyadenylated sterile transcripts. RNase protection analysis and northern blot hybridization of three sterile transcript loci demonstrated that both the sterile transcript and a complementary mRNA were made in each case, further categorizing these sterile transcripts as antisense transcripts. Investigation of the genomic loci for these same three sterile antisense transcripts showed typical transcription units for the sense transcripts, but still failed to reveal a usable open reading frame for the sterile antisense transcripts. 5'-RACE mapped the transcription start site for one of the sterile antisense transcripts to an AT-rich region, as is typical for Giardia. It is unclear whether these sterile transcripts represent errors in transcription or whether they have regulatory functions within the cell, although preliminary investigations failed to reveal evidence for a role in developmental gene regulation. In either case, the presence of such a large pool of sterile antisense transcripts is dramatic evidence of the unusual molecular machinery of the early diverging protist G.lamblia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed at present address. Tel: +1 202 687 9883; Fax: +1 202 687 5662; Email: hge{at}georgetown.edu Present address:Heidi G. Elmendorf and Steven M. Singer, Department of Biology, 306A Reiss Building, 37th and O Streets NW, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA +AF398985–AF399010


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