Spotlight on alternative frame coding: Two long overlapping genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa are translated and under purifying selection

• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103844
• Publication Date: 2022-02-01T23:23:54Z
• Authors: Michaela Kreitmeier; Zachary Ardern; Miriam Abele; Christina Ludwig; Siegfried Scherer; Klaus Neuhaus
• Keywords: ORFS; Negative selection; Proteome; Ribosome profiling

The existence of overlapping genes (OLGs) with significant coding overlaps revolutionizes our understanding genomic complexity. We report two exceptionally long (957 nt and 1536 nt), evolutionarily novel, translated antisense open reading frames (ORFs) embedded within annotated in the pathogenic Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Both OLG pairs show sequence features consistent being transcriptional signals RNA sequencing. Translation both OLGs was confirmed by ribosome profiling mass spectrometry. Quantitative proteomics samples taken during different phases growth revealed regulation protein abundances, implying biological functionality. are taxonomically restricted, likely arose overprinting genus. Evidence for purifying selection further supports reported here, designated olg1 olg2, longest yet proposed prokaryotes among best attested terms translation evolutionary constraint. These results highlight a potentially large unexplored dimension prokaryotic genomes.