Excision of the Sinorhizobium meliloti Group II Intron RmInt1 as Circles in Vivo

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2006 papers

Abstract

Excision of group II introns as circles has been described only for a few eukaryotic introns and little is known about the mechanisms involved, the relevance or consequences of the process. We report that splicing of the bacterial group II intron RmInt1 in vivo leads to the formation of both intron lariat and intron RNA circles. We determined that besides being required for the intron splicing reaction, the maturase domain of the intron-encoded protein also controls the balance between lariat and RNA intron circle production. Furthermore, comparison with in vitro self-splicing products indicates that in vivo, the intron-encoded protein appears to promote the use of a correct EBS1/IBS1 intron-exon interaction as well as cleavage at, or next to, the expected 3' splice site. These findings provide new insights on the mechanism of excision of group II introns as circles.

Related Papers

• → Identification of a family of group II introns encoding LAGLIDADG ORFs typical of group I introns(2002)77 cited
• → Organellar Introns in Fungi, Algae, and Plants(2021)47 cited
• → A maturase-encoding group MA intron of yeast mitochondria self-splices in vitro(1992)36 cited
• → Introns, Splicing and Mobility(2001)
• → Kinetic analysis of group IIC RNP formation(2022)