Published online 19 April 2004
Nucleic Acids Research, 2004, Vol. 32, No. 7 2087-2092
© 2004 Oxford University Press
Thirteen-exon-motif signature for vertebrate nuclear and mitochondrial type IB topoisomerases
Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology and 1 Laboratory of Experimental Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, USA
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1 301 496 5944; Fax: +1 301 402 0752; Email: pommier{at}nih.gov
+AF362952, AF503620, AY429654, AY429655 and TPA BK001786
Received February 6, 2004; Revised and Accepted March 11, 2004
DNA topoisomerases contribute to various cellular activities that involve DNA. We previously identified a human nuclear gene that encodes a mitochondrial DNA topoisomerase. Here we show that genes for mitochondrial DNA topoisomerases (type IB) exist only in vertebrates. A 13-exon topoisomerase motif was identified as a characteristic of genes for both nuclear and mitochondrial type IB topoisomerases. The presence of this signature motif is thus an indicator of the coexistence of nuclear and mitochondrial type IB DNA topoisomerases. We hypothesize that the prototype topoisomerase IB with the 13-exon structure formed first, and then duplicated. One topoisomerase specialized for nuclear DNA and the other for mitochondrial DNA.
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