The evolution of spliceosomal introns: patterns, puzzles and progress

@article{Roy2006TheEO,
  title={The evolution of spliceosomal introns: patterns, puzzles and progress},
  author={Scott William Roy and Walter Gilbert},
  journal={Nature Reviews Genetics},
  year={2006},
  volume={7},
  pages={211-221}
}
The origins and importance of spliceosomal introns comprise one of the longest-abiding mysteries of molecular evolution. Considerable debate remains over several aspects of the evolution of spliceosomal introns, including the timing of intron origin and proliferation, the mechanisms by which introns are lost and gained, and the forces that have shaped intron evolution. Recent important progress has been made in each of these areas. Patterns of intron-position correspondence between widely… 
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516 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
283
Methods Citations
13
Results Citations
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516 Citations

Mystery of intron gain: new data and new models.
Origins and evolution of spliceosomal introns.
Research into the origins of introns is at a critical juncture in the resolution of theories on the evolution of early life (which came first, RNA or DNA?), the identity of LUCA (the last universal…
A glimpse of a putative pre-intron phase of eukaryotic evolution.
Spliceosomal introns as tools for genomic and evolutionary analysis
TLDR
The wealth of ways in which structures of spliceosomal introns as well as their conservation and change through evolution may be harnessed for evolutionary and genomic analysis are reviewed.
Three distinct modes of intron dynamics in the evolution of eukaryotes.
TLDR
A comprehensive probabilistic model to obtain a definitive reconstruction of intron evolution was developed and applied to 391 sets of conserved genes from 19 eukaryotic species, inferring that a relatively high intron density was reached early.
Splicing-Related Features of Introns Serve to Propel Evolution
TLDR
It is proposed that splicing-related structural features of introns serve as an additional motor to propel evolution and were more prone to sustainable structural changes than DNA sequences without introns due to intron's ability to jump within the genome via unknown mechanisms.
Alternative splicing: A missing piece in the puzzle of intron gain
TLDR
It is posited that intron positional diversity is driven by two overlapping processes: (i) background process of continuous relocation of preexisting introns by sliding and (ii) spurts of extensive gain/loss of new intron sequences.
Organization and Evolution of Fibrillarin Gene Introns
TLDR
Analysis of the intron organization of the fibrillarin gene from the sequenced genomes of twenty-five species showed that more complex, multicellular species had generally larger numbers and lengths of introns, indicating that these introns were present in early eukaryotic ancestors as predicted by the introns-early model.
The origin of introns and their role in eukaryogenesis: a compromise solution to the introns-early versus introns-late debate?
TLDR
It appears that ancestors of spliceosomal introns, indeed, have existed since the earliest stages of life's evolution, in a formal agreement with the introns-early scenario.
Origin of introns by 'intronization' of exonic sequences.
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