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J. Bacteriol., 06 1996, 3531-3538, Vol 178, No. 12
DA Mills, LL McKay and GM Dunny
Analysis of a region involved in the conjugative transfer of the
lactococcal conjugative element pRS01 has revealed a bacteria] group II
intron. Splicing of this lactococcal intron (designated Ll.ltrB) in vivo
resulted in the ligation of two exon messages (ltrBE1 and ltrBE2) which
encoded a putative conjugative relaxase essential for the transfer of
pRS01. Like many group II introns, the Ll.ltrB intron possessed an open
reading frame (ltrA) with homology to reverse transcriptases. Remarkably,
sequence analysis of ltrA suggested a greater similarity to open reading
frames encoded by eukaryotic mitochondrial group II introns than to those
identified to date from other bacteria. Several insertional mutations
within ltrA resulted in plasmids exhibiting a conjugative
transfer-deficient phenotype. These results provide the first direct
evidence for splicing of a prokaryotic group II intron in vivo and suggest
that conjugative transfer is a mechanism for group II intron dissemination
in bacteria.
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology
Splicing of a group II intron involved in the conjugative transfer of pRS01 in lactococci
Department of Microbiology and Institute for Advanced Studies in Biological Process Technology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455-0312, USA.
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