Bacterial origin of a chloroplast intron: conserved self-splicing group I introns in cyanobacteria

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 250; no. 4987; pp. 1566 - 1570
• Main Authors: Xu, M.Q. (State University of New York, Albany, NY), Kathe, S.D, Goodrich-Blair, H, Nierzwicki-Bauer, S.A, Shub, D.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for the Advancement of Science 14-12-1990; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: ANABAENA; Analysis; Animals; ARN; Bacteria; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteriophages; Base Sequence; Biochemistry; Biological Evolution; BRYOPHYTA; Cellular biology; CHLOROPLASTE; Chloroplasts; Chloroplasts - metabolism; CLOROPLASTO; Cyanobacteria; Cyanobacteria - genetics; Cyanophyta; Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI - metabolism; Deoxyribonuclease HindIII - metabolism; DNA; DNA - genetics; DNA - metabolism; Genetic aspects; GENETICA; Genetics; GENETIQUE; Introns; Introns - genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Molecules; Nucleic Acid Conformation; NUCLEOTIDE; Nucleotide sequence; Nucleotides; NUCLEOTIDOS; Restriction Mapping; RNA; RNA Splicing; RNA, Transfer, Leu - genetics; Space life sciences; Splicing; Tetrahymena - genetics; Transfer RNA
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.2125747

A self-splicing group I intron has been found in the gene for a leucine transfer RNA in two species of Anabaena, a filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium. The intron is similar to one that is found at the identical position in the same transfer RNA gene of chloroplasts of land plants. Because cyanobacteria were the progenitors of chloroplasts, it is likely that group I introns predated the endosymbiotic association of these eubacteria with eukaryotic cells