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The nucleotide sequence of 5S rRNA from the posterior silk gland of the silk worm Philosamia cynthia ricini has been determined. The comparison with other insect 5S rRNAs revealed an exceptionally conserved secondary structure, in spite of an extremely high mutation rate: Thirteen nucleotides are different in Philosamia and Drosophila 5S rRNA, but all substitutions are either compensatory or occur in loops or introduce G:U base pairs. The rates of base substitution per site per year of several insect species (diptera and lepidoptera) 5S and 5.8S rRNAs are compared with those occurring in vertebrate rRNAs. In the latter cases the rates are remarkably constant, whereas their value is not only about twofold higher in insect rRNAs, but is found to be extremely large in the 5S rRNA of the silkworm Bombyx mori. These data demonstrate that phylogcnetic conclusions derived from small rRNA sequence comparisons are only of limited value.
The comparison of the 5S rRNAs revealed an exceptionally conserved secondary structure, in spite of an extremely high mutation rate: Thirteen nucleotides are different in Philosamia and Drosophila 5S rRNA, but all substitutions are either compensatory or occur in loops or introduce G: U base pairs. The rates of base substitution per site per year of several insect species (diptera and lepidoptera) 5S and 5.8S rRNAs are compared with those occurring in vertebrate rRNAs. but the value of not only about twofold higher in insect rRNAs, but is found to be extremely large in the 5S rRNA of the silkworm Bombyx mori. These data demonstrate that phylogctrics conclusions derived from small rRNA sequence comparisons are only of limited value.