Spontaneous shuffling of domains between introns of phage T4 (original) (raw)

Nature volume 346, pages 394–396 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

THE three self-splicing introns in phage T4 (in the _td, sun_Y and nrd_B genes) (Fig. 1a) each have the conserved group I catalytic RNA core structure (Fig. 1_b), out of which is looped an open reading frame1. Although the core sequences are very similar (˜60% identity), the open reading frames seem to be unrelated. Single crossover recombination events between homologous core sequences in the closely linked td and _nrd_B introns have led to 'exon shuffling'2. Here we describe spontaneous double crossovers between the unlinked td and _sun_Y introns that result in shuffling of an intron structure element, P7.1 (refs 3 and 4). The intron domain-switch variants were isolated as genetic suppressors of a splicing-defective P7.1 deletion in the td intron. This unprecedented example of suppression through inter-intron sequence substitution indicates that the introns are in a state of genetic flux and implies the functional Intel-changeability of the two analogous but non-identical P7.1 elements. The implications of such recombination events are discussed in the light of the evolution of the introns themselves as well as that of their host genomes.

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Author notes

  1. Marlene Belfort: To whom correspondence should be addressed

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadsworth Center for Laboratories & Research, New York State Department of Health, Empire State Plaza, PO Box 509, Albany, New York, 12201-0509, USA
    Mary Bryk & Marlene Belfort
  2. Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Albany Medical College, 47 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, New York, 12208, USA
    Mary Bryk
  3. School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York, 12201, USA
    Marlene Belfort

Authors

  1. Mary Bryk
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  2. Marlene Belfort
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Bryk, M., Belfort, M. Spontaneous shuffling of domains between introns of phage T4.Nature 346, 394–396 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/346394a0

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