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Evidence for thermal stability of ribosomal DNA sequences in hydrothermal-vent organisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

D. R. Dixon ,
R. Simpson-White  and
L. R. J. Dixon
D. R. Dixon
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB
R. Simpson-White
Affiliation:
Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB
L. R. J. Dixon
Affiliation:
Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB
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Extract

This paper reports the results of experiments designed to investigate the relationship between thermal stability of DNA and the physical and chemical conditions experienced by various species of invertebrates, with particular reference to hydrothermal vent organisms. The major conclusion is that thermal stability correlates positively with environmental temperature within the DNA regions encoding ribosomal RNA, but not throughout the genome. Increased thermal stability (based it is supposed on an increase in G-C content) of rDNA relative to total DNA confers protection to coding sequences which would otherwise be susceptible to damage during transcription. An increase in G-C content of rDNA will lead to an increase in G-C levels in rRNA which forms a major structural component of ribosomes, thus conferring increased thermal and chemical stability to these sites of amino acid synthesis within the cell.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 519 - 527
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1992

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