Base Compositional Bias in Trans-Spliced Sequences of Unknown Function in Leishmania major

Footprints of a trypanosomatid RNA world: pre-small subunit rRNA processing by spliced leader addition trans-splicing

“…It is unlikely that the trans-spliced pre-SSU rRNA molecule codes for functional peptides; however, the generated RNA molecules could have a regulatory function, as has been suggested for the highly abundant L. (L.) major ORF-less trans-spliced RNAs (Iribar & Cruz 2002). Alternatively, the highly structured transspliced 5'ETS transcripts with prematurely terminated ORFs could be processed through an RNA surveillance mechanism (Houseley et al 2006).…”