A Group I Intron Riboswitch

A group I intron riboswitch.

Riboswitches are mRNA-based elements that regulate gene expression via binding of a specific ligand. Breaker and coworkers have now discovered a novel type of regulatory RNA motif that acts by c-di-GMP-dependent control of a self-splicing group I intron ribozyme (Lee et al., 2010).

Modular engineering of a Group I intron ribozyme.

All Group I intron ribozymes contain a conserved core region consisting of two helical domains, P4-P6 and P3-P7. Recent studies have demonstrated that the elements required for catalysis are concentrated in the P3-P7 domain. We carried out in vitro selection experiments by using three newly constructed libraries on a variant of the T4 td Group I ribozyme containing only a P3-P7 domain in its co...

A comparative database of group I intron structures.

We have created a database of comparatively derived group I intron secondary structure diagrams. This collection currently contains a broad sampling of phylogenetically and structurally similar and diverse structures from over 200 publicly available intron sequences. As more group I introns are sequenced and added to the database, we anticipate minor refinements in these secondary structure dia...

A complex group I intron in Nectria galligena rDNA.

Explosive invasion of plant mitochondria by a group I intron.

Group I introns are mobile, self-splicing genetic elements found principally in organellar genomes and nuclear rRNA genes. The only group I intron known from mitochondrial genomes of vascular plants is located in the cox1 gene of Peperomia, where it is thought to have been recently acquired by lateral transfer from a fungal donor. Southern-blot surveys of 335 diverse genera of land plants now s...