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Information theory unveils the evolution of tRNA identity elements in the three domains of life

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Abstract

We determined the identity elements of each tRNA isoacceptor for the three domains of life: Eubacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Our analyses encompass the most updated and curated available databases using an information theory approach. We obtained a collection of identity clusters for each of the isoacceptors of the 20 canonical amino acids for the three major domains of life. The identity clusters for all isoacceptors are compared within and among the three domains to determine their pattern of differentiation and to shed light on the evolution of the identity elements.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Juan R. Bobadilla for technical computer support. We thank the anonymous reviewer for their helpful criticisms and suggestions. We thank Adhemar Liquitaya-Montiel for helpful discussions at the begining of this work.

Funding

GSZ is a doctoral student from Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and received a doctoral fellowship from CONACYT (Number: 737920). MP is a doctoral student from Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas (PDCB), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and she receives the fellowship 694877 from CONACYT. MVJ was funded by Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (DGAPA), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM (PAPIIT-IN201019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Theoretical Biology Group, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico

    Gabriel S. Zamudio, Miryam Palacios-Pérez & Marco V. José

Authors
  1. Gabriel S. Zamudio
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  2. Miryam Palacios-Pérez
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  3. Marco V. José
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Contributions

GSZ and MVJ conceived and designed the experiments; GSZ performed the experiments and analyzed the identity clusters; MPP analyzed tRNA sites for posttranscriptional modifications; GSZ, MPP, and MVJ analyzed the data; GSZ and MVJ wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Gabriel S. Zamudio or Marco V. José.

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Zamudio, G.S., Palacios-Pérez, M. & José, M.V. Information theory unveils the evolution of tRNA identity elements in the three domains of life. Theory Biosci. 139, 77–85 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-019-00301-6

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