Secondary DNA structure analysis of the coding strand switch regions of five Leishmania major Friedlin chromosomes

• Published in: Current genetics Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 186 - 194
• Main Authors: Tosato, V, Ciarloni, L, Ivens, A C, Rajandream, M A, Barrell, B G, Bruschi, C V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.2001
• Subjects: Animals; chromosome 21; Computational Biology; DNA, Protozoan - chemistry; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; Escherichia coli; Genes, Switch; Leishmania major; Leishmania major - genetics; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology
• ISSN: 0172-8083; 1432-0983
• DOI: 10.1007/s002940100246

As part of the EULEISH international genome project, a region of 74,674 nucleotides from chromosome 21 of Leishmania major Friedlin was subcloned and sequenced; and 31 new coding sequences were predicted. Of particular interest was a unique coding strand switching region covering 1.6 kb of DNA; and this was subjected to further investigation. Bioinformatic analysis of this region revealed an unusually high AT composition, a lack of putative hairpins and a strong curvature of the DNA in agreement with the structural characteristics of similar regions of other Leishmania chromosomes. These observations and a comparison with the secondary DNA structure of four other Leishmania chromosomes and chromosomes of different organisms could suggest a functional role of this region in transcription and mitotic division.