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. 1985 Sep;5(9):2487–2490. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.9.2487

The spliced leader sequence of Trypanosoma brucei has a potential role as a cap donor structure.

M J Lenardo, D M Dorfman, J E Donelson
PMCID: PMC366976  PMID: 3837191

Abstract

Trypanosoma brucei brucei and other trypanosomatid species are unique among eucaryotes because transcription of their protein-coding genes is discontinuous. The 5' ends of their mRNAs consist of an identical 35-nucleotide spliced leader which is encoded at a separate locus from that for the body of the protein-coding transcript. We show here that the spliced leader transcript contains a 5' cap structure and suggest that at least one function of the spliced leader sequence is to provide a cap structure to trypanosome mRNAs.

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Selected References

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