TY - JOUR
T1 - Group II introns in Eubacteria and Archaea
T2 - ORF-less introns and new varieties
AU - Simon, Dawn M.
AU - Clarke, Nicholas A.C.
AU - McNeil, Bonnie A.
AU - Johnson, Ian
AU - Pantuso, Davin
AU - Dai, Lixin
AU - Chai, Dinggeng
AU - Zimmerly, Steven
PY - 2008/9
Y1 - 2008/9
N2 - Group II introns are a major class of ribozymes found in bacteria, mitochondria, and plastids. Many introns contain reverse transcriptase open reading frames (ORFs) that confer mobility to the introns and allow them to persist as selfish DNAs. Here, we report an updated compilation of group II introns in Eubacteria and Archaea comprising 234 introns. One new phylogenetic class is identified, as well as several specialized lineages. In addition, we undertake a detailed search for ORF-less group II introns in bacterial genomes in order to find undiscovered introns that either entirely lack an ORF or encode a novel ORF. Unlike organellar group II introns, we find only a handful of ORF-less introns in bacteria, suggesting that if a substantial number exist, they must be divergent from known introns. Together, these results highlight the retroelement character of bacterial group II introns, and suggest that their long-term survival is dependent upon retromobility. Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
AB - Group II introns are a major class of ribozymes found in bacteria, mitochondria, and plastids. Many introns contain reverse transcriptase open reading frames (ORFs) that confer mobility to the introns and allow them to persist as selfish DNAs. Here, we report an updated compilation of group II introns in Eubacteria and Archaea comprising 234 introns. One new phylogenetic class is identified, as well as several specialized lineages. In addition, we undertake a detailed search for ORF-less group II introns in bacterial genomes in order to find undiscovered introns that either entirely lack an ORF or encode a novel ORF. Unlike organellar group II introns, we find only a handful of ORF-less introns in bacteria, suggesting that if a substantial number exist, they must be divergent from known introns. Together, these results highlight the retroelement character of bacterial group II introns, and suggest that their long-term survival is dependent upon retromobility. Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
KW - Evolution
KW - Intron-encoded protein
KW - Retroelement
KW - Reverse transcriptase
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U2 - 10.1261/rna.1056108
DO - 10.1261/rna.1056108
M3 - Article
C2 - 18676618
AN - SCOPUS:50649097946
SN - 1355-8382
VL - 14
SP - 1704
EP - 1713
JO - RNA
JF - RNA
IS - 9
ER -