ArticleJournal of molecular evolution2009
An overview of the introns-first theory.
Article in Journal of molecular evolution, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Genome-wide identification and gene expression pattern analysis of the carotenoid cleavage oxygenase gene family in Fagopyrum tataricum.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Genes divided according to the relative position of the longest intron show increased representation in different KEGG pathways.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- The unusual gene architecture of polyubiquitin is created by dual-specific splice sites.Genome biology · 2024Article
- On the origin of the nucleus: a hypothesis.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2023Review
- Review
- Imaging Intron Evolution.Methods and protocols · 2022Article
- RNA self-splicing by engineered hairpin ribozyme variants.Nucleic acids research · 2022Article
- An Intron of Invertebrate Microphthalmia Transcription Factor Gene Is Evolved from a Longer Ancestral Sequence.Evolutionary bioinformatics online · 2021Article
- Simulation of Chordate Intron Evolution Using Randomly Generated and Mutated Base Sequences.Evolutionary bioinformatics online · 2020Article
- TDG Gene Polymorphisms and Their Possible Association with Colorectal Cancer: A Case Control Study.Journal of oncology · 2019Article
- Does the Ribosome Challenge our Understanding of the RNA World?Journal of molecular evolution · 2016Article
- Current Bacterial Gene Encoding Capsule Biosynthesis Protein CapI Contains Nucleotides Derived from Exonization.Evolutionary bioinformatics online · 2016Article
- Recombination of chl-fus gene (Plastid Origin) downstream of hop: a locus of chromosomal instability.BMC genomics · 2015Article
- Mammalian introns: when the junk generates molecular diversity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2015Review
- Context-dependent control of alternative splicing by RNA-binding proteins.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2014Review
- Intron evolution in Saccharomycetaceae.Genome biology and evolution · 2014Article
- Origin of spliceosomal introns and alternative splicing.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2014Article
- The protein invasion: a broad review on the origin of the translational system.Journal of molecular evolution · 2013Review
- Modeling the evolution dynamics of exon-intron structure with a general random fragmentation process.BMC evolutionary biology · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We review the introns-first hypothesis a decade after it was first proposed. It is that exons emerged from non-coding regions interspersed between RNA genes in an early RNA world, and is a subcomponent of a more general 'RNA-continuity' hypothesis. The latter is that some RNA-based systems, especially in RNA processing, are 'relics' that can be traced back either to the RNA world that preceded both DNA and encoded protein synthesis or to the later ribonucleoprotein (RNP) world (before DNA took over the main coding role). RNA-continuity is based on independent evidence-in particular, the relative inefficiency of RNA catalysis compared with protein catalysis-and leads to a wide range of predictions, ranging from the origin of the ribosome, the spliceosome, small nucleolar RNAs, RNases P and MRP, and mRNA, and it is consistent with the wide involvement of RNA-processing and regulation of RNA in modern eukaryotes. While there may still be cause to withhold judgement on intron origins, there is strong evidence against introns being uncommon in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA), and expanding only within extant eukaryotic groups-the 'very-late' intron invasion model. Similarly, it is clear that there are selective forces on numbers and positions of introns; their existence may not always be neutral. There is still a range of viable alternatives, including introns first, early, and 'latish' (i.e. well established in LECA), and regardless of which is ultimately correct, it pays to separate out various questions and to focus on testing the predictions of sub-theories.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.