Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T15:01:06.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baross, J.A. & Hoffman, S.E., 1985. Submarine hydrothermal vents and associated gradient environments as sites for the origin and evolution of life. Origins of Life, 15, 327–345.Google Scholar
Bernardi, G., 1989. The isochore organization of the human genome. Annual Reviews in Genetics, 23, 637–661.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernardi, G. & Bernardi, G., 1990 a. Compositional transitions in the nuclear genomes of cold-blooded vertebrates. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 31, 282–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernardi, G. & Bernardi, G., 1990 b. Compositional patterns in the nuclear genome of cold-blooded vertebrates. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 31, 265–281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darnell, J., Lodish, H. & Baltimore, D., 1990. Molecular cell biology. New York: Scientific American Books.Google Scholar
Desbruyères, D., Gaill, F., Laubier, L. & Fouquet, Y., 1985. Polychaetous annelids from hydrothermal vent ecosystems: an ecological overview. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington, 6, 103–116.Google Scholar
Desbruyères, D. & Laubier, L., 1982. Paralvinella grasslei, new genus, new species of Alvinellinae (Polychaeta: Ampharetidae) from the Galapagos rift geothermal vents. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 95, 484–494.Google Scholar
Desbruyères, D. & Laubier, L., 1986. Les Alvinellidae, une famille nouvelle d'annélides polychètes inféodées aux sources hydrothermales sous-marines: systématique, biologie et ecologie. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 64, 2227–2245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desbruyères, D. & Laubier, L., 1989. Paralvinella hessleri, new species of Alvinellidae (Polychaeta) from the Mariana Back-Arc Basin hydrothermal vents. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 102, 761–767.Google Scholar
Desbruyères, D. & Laubier, L., 1991. Systematics, phylogeny, ecology and distribution of the Alvinellidae (Polychaeta) from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Ophelia, supplement 5, 31–45.Google Scholar
Fustec, A., Desbruyères, D. & Juniper, S.K., 1987. Deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities at 13°N on the East Pacific Rise; microdistribution and temporal variations. Biological Oceanography, 4, 121–164.Google Scholar
Gage, J.D., 1991. Biological rates in the deep sea: a perspective from studies on processes in the benthic boundary layer. Reviews in Aquatic Sciences, 5, 49–100.Google Scholar
Gaill, F. & Hunt, S., 1991. The biology of annelid worms from high temperature hydrothermal vent regions. Reviews in Aquatic Sciences, 4, 107–137.Google Scholar
Grassle, J.F., 1986. The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities. Advances in Marine Biology, 23, 301–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hessler, R., Lonsdale, P. & Hawkins, J., 1988. Patterns on the ocean floor. New Scientist, 117, no. 1605, 47–51.Google Scholar
Jones, M.L., 1985. On the vestimentifera, new phylum: six new species, and other taxa, from hydrothermal vents and elsewhere. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington, 6, 117–158.Google Scholar
Kessler, C., Holtke, H.J., Seibl, R., Burg, J. & Muhlegger, K., 1990. Non-radioactive labelling and detection of nucleic acids: I. A novel DNA labelling and detection system based on digoxygenin: anti-digoxygenin ELISA principle. Biological Chemistry Hoppe Seyler, 371, 917–927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mclean, J.H., 1988. New archaeogastropod limpets from hydrothermal vents; superfamily Lepetodrilacea. I. Systematic descriptions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B), 319, 1–32.Google Scholar
Mandel, M., 1973. DNA base compositions of eucaryotic protists. In Handbook of Biochemistry, 2nd ed. (ed. H.A., Sober). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Normore, W.M. & Brown, J.R., 1973. Guanine + cytosine (G+C) composition of bacteria. In Handbook ofBiochemistry, 2nd ed. (ed. H.A., Sober), pp. H24–74. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Ohno, S., 1972. An argument for the genetic simplicity of man and other mammals. Journal of Human Evolution, 1, 651–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E.F. & Maniatis, T., 1989. Molecular cloning. A laboratory manual, vol. 1. Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.Google Scholar
Schmidt, E.R., Godwin, E.A., Keyl, H.-G. & Israelewski, N., 1982. Cloning and analysis of ribosomal DNA of Chironomus thummipiger and Chironomus thummithummi. Chromosoma(Berlin), 87, 389–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, M.F., 1982. SINES and LINES: highly repeated short and long interspersed sequences in mammalian genomes. Cell, 28, 433–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somero, G.N., Childress, J.J. & Anderson, A.E., 1989. Transport, metabolism, and detoxification of hydrogen sulfide in animals from sulfide-rich marine environments. Reviews in Aquatic Sciences, 1, 591–614.Google Scholar
Southward, A.J., 1991. Effect of temperature on autotrophic enzyme activity of bacteria symbiotic in clams and tube worms. Kieler Meeresforschungen, Sonderheft nr. 8, 245–251.Google Scholar
Southward, E.C., 1988. Development of the gut and segmentation of newly-settled stages of Ridgeia (Vestimentifera): implications for relationship between Vestimentifera and Pogonophora. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 68, 465–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiery, J.P., Macaya, G. & Bernardi, G., 1976. An analysis of eucaryotic genomes by density gradient centrifugation. Journal of Molecular Biology, 108, 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tunnicliffe, V. & Juniper, S.K., 1990. Dynamic character of the hydrothermal vent habitat and the nature of sulphide chimney fauna. Progress in Oceanography, 24, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tunnicliffe, V., Juniper, S.K. & Burgh, M.E. De, 1985. The hydrothermal vent community on Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington, 6, 453–464.Google Scholar
Vetter, R.D., Powell, M.A. & Somero, G.N., 1991. Metazoan adaptations to hydrogen sulphide. In Metazoan life without oxygen, (ed. C., Bryant), pp. 109–128. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Watson, J.D., Hopkins, N.H., Roberts, J.W., Steitz, J.A. & Weiner, A.M., 1987. Molecular biology of the gene, vol. 1. Menlo Park, California: Benjamin/Cummings.Google Scholar