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Investigating the Structural Organization and Expression of the Animal Genome Report of the 2021 Laureate of the Lomonosov Grand Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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Abstract

Messenger RNA of animal cells has been discovered, and a method for its isolation in pure form has been developed. It was established that it has the same nucleotide composition as DNA (dRNA). The nuclear dRNA contains both the newly formed mRNA precursor, pre-mRNA, and the mature mRNA. Pre-mRNA has a significantly higher molecular weight than mRNA. The content of dRNA comprises from 1/3 to 1/2 of the entire nuclear RNA. The organization of dRNA-containing nuclear nucleoprotein complexes was disclosed: a long dRNA molecule is wound on the surface of a series of globular multiprotein particles (informofers), which are connected by RNA bridges. One informofer has an RNA segment 700 nucleotides long. This previously unknown structure of nucleoproteins provides a sharp reduction in the linear dimensions of RNA while maintaining its accessibility to various protein factors. During further research, mobile genetic elements of animals were discovered. It has been established that almost all moderate repeats of the genome, that is, about 10% of the latter, are mobile elements of different sizes. Two main types of mobile elements in Drosophila and mice have been identified and characterized.

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Notes

  1. Il’ya Borisovich Zbarskii (1913–2007) was a Soviet and Russian biochemist, an Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (from 1986, an Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences). [Editor’s notes here and below.]

  2. Aleksandr Sergeevich Spirin (1931–2020) was a Soviet and Russian biochemist, an RAS Academician (from 1970, an Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences).

  3. Andrei Nikolaevich Belozerskii (1905–1973) was a Soviet biologist and biochemist, an Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

  4. A (adenine), G (guanine), T (thymine), and U (uracil) are the nitrogenous bases that are part of nucleic acids. Adenine, guanine, and cytosine are found in both DNA and RNA. Thymine is found only in DNA, and uracil is found only in RNA.

  5. In 1965, F. Jacob, A. Lvov, and J. Monod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of the synthesis of enzymes and viruses.”

  6. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Engelhardt (1894–1984) was a Soviet biochemist and Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

  7. R.D. Roberts and F.A. Sharp in 1993 were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discovery, independently of each other, of the discontinuous structure of the gene.”

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  1. Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    G. P. Georgiev

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Translated by B. Alekseev

RAS Academician Georgii Pavlovich Georgiev is Chief Researcher of the RAS Institute of Gene Biology.

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Georgiev, G.P. Investigating the Structural Organization and Expression of the Animal Genome Report of the 2021 Laureate of the Lomonosov Grand Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 92, 659–670 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331622060016

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