TY - JOUR
T1 - Origin of the cilium
T2 - novel approaches to examine a centriolar evolution hypothesis.
AU - Alliegro, Mark C.
AU - Satir, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by NIH (GM075163) and NSF (0843092) grants to MCA. PS is partially supported by NIDDK.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Recently, a new hypothesis was proposed regarding the evolution of the cilium from an enveloped RNA virus (Satir et al., 2007, Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 64, 906). The hypothesis predicts that there may be specific centriolar or basal body RNAs with sequences reminiscent of retroviruses, and/or that the nuclear genes for certain centriole-specific proteins would have viral origins. Four independent laboratories have reported the existence of centrosomal RNA (cnRNA). Methods for studying cnRNA are described. We analyzed evidence of relatedness of known full-length cnRNAs to extant viral molecules. Out of 14 cnRNAs studied, 12 have similarity to entries in viral databases, all but one of these with E-values of < or = 1e(-4). Some centrosomal, and possibly uniquely centriolar, proteins also have relatives in viral databases that meet the criteria accepted to indicate a relationship by descent. Nine general cytoskeleton proteins exhibited no significant similarity to viral proteins. The speculation that centrioles are invaders of RNA viral origin in the evolving eukaryotic cell is strengthened by these findings. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
AB - Recently, a new hypothesis was proposed regarding the evolution of the cilium from an enveloped RNA virus (Satir et al., 2007, Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 64, 906). The hypothesis predicts that there may be specific centriolar or basal body RNAs with sequences reminiscent of retroviruses, and/or that the nuclear genes for certain centriole-specific proteins would have viral origins. Four independent laboratories have reported the existence of centrosomal RNA (cnRNA). Methods for studying cnRNA are described. We analyzed evidence of relatedness of known full-length cnRNAs to extant viral molecules. Out of 14 cnRNAs studied, 12 have similarity to entries in viral databases, all but one of these with E-values of < or = 1e(-4). Some centrosomal, and possibly uniquely centriolar, proteins also have relatives in viral databases that meet the criteria accepted to indicate a relationship by descent. Nine general cytoskeleton proteins exhibited no significant similarity to viral proteins. The speculation that centrioles are invaders of RNA viral origin in the evolving eukaryotic cell is strengthened by these findings. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0091-679X(08)94002-4
DO - 10.1016/S0091-679X(08)94002-4
M3 - Review article
C2 - 20362084
AN - SCOPUS:77953656497
SN - 0091-679X
VL - 94
SP - 53
EP - 64
JO - Methods in cell biology
JF - Methods in cell biology
ER -