Computer identification of snoRNA genes using a mammalian orthologous intron database

Based on comparative genomics, we created a bioinformatic package for computer prediction of small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes in mammalian introns. The core of our approach was the use of the Mammalian Orthologous Intron Database (MOID), which contains all known introns within the human, mouse and rat genomes. Introns from orthologous genes from these three species, that have the same position relative to the reading frame, are grouped in a special orthologous intron table. Our program SNO.pl searches for conserved snoRNA motifs within MOID and reports all cases when characteristic snoRNA-like structures are present in all three orthologous introns of human, mouse and rat sequences. Here we report an example of the SNO.pl usage for searching a particular pattern of conserved C/D-box snoRNA motifs (canonical C- and D-boxes and the 6 nt long terminal stem). In this computer analysis, we detected 57 triplets of snoRNA-like structures in three mammals. Among them were 15 triplets that represented known C/D-box snoRNA genes. Six triplets represented snoRNA genes that had only been partially characterized in the mouse genome. One case represented a novel snoRNA gene, and another three cases, putative snoRNAs. Our programs are publicly available and can be easily adapted and/or modified for searching any conserved motifs within mammalian introns.