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Journal of Bacteriology, February 1999, p. 1049-1053, Vol. 181, No. 3
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Sporadic Distribution of tRNACCUArg
Introns among
-Purple Bacteria: Evidence for Horizontal Transmission
and Transposition of a Group I Intron
Bruno
Paquin,
Annette
Heinfling,
and
David A.
Shub*
Department of Biological Sciences and Center
for Molecular Genetics, University at Albany
SUNY, Albany, New
York 12222
Received 8 June 1998/Accepted 17 November 1998
 |
ABSTRACT |
A group I intron interrupts the tRNACCUArg gene of
the
-purple bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens (B. Reinhold-Hurek and D. A. Shub, Nature [London] 357:173-176,
1992). In this study, we assess the distribution of the corresponding
intron among 12 additional species of
-purple bacteria. Of 10 newly
identified tRNACCUArg genes, we found only two that
contained an intron homologous to that of the Agrobacterium
tRNACCUArg intron. This restricted and scattered
distribution of the tRNACCUArg intron among
-purple
bacteria is consistent with a recent origin and horizontal
transmission. Primary and secondary structural similarities between
tRNAUAALeu introns found in strains of the
cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (K. Rudi and K. S. Jacobsen, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 156:293-298, 1997) and
-purple
tRNACCUArg introns suggest that these introns share a
more recent common ancestor than either does with other known
cyanobacterial tRNAUAALeu introns.
 |
TEXT |
Group I introns are present in
cellular and viral genes in eukaryotes and eubacteria (6, 15,
16). Although these introns interrupt a number of different
protein-coding and RNA genes of eukaryotes and bacteriophages, the only
insertion site observed so far in eubacteria is the sequence of the
anticodon loop of tRNA genes. Eubacterial group I introns were first
identified in the tRNAUAALeu genes of five
cyanobacterial species (13, 22), prompting speculation that
these introns would be widely distributed among cyanobacteria. In
conjunction with the observation that most plastid genomes also
possessed a homologous intron, an ancient origin predating the
endosymbiotic event that gave rise to plastids was proposed for the
tRNAUAALeu intron (13, 22). The phylogenetic
distribution of tRNAUAALeu introns among cyanobacteria
was later determined, and it was shown that the distribution was not
universal but, nevertheless, was consistent with an ancient origin
(17). This conclusion was challenged by the discovery of
tRNAUAALeu introns in some strains of the
cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa which, however, seem
to have originated independently of the previously characterized
cyanobacterial tRNAUAALeu introns through horizontal
transfer (19). Conversely, tRNA fMet group I introns are
sporadically distributed among cyanobacteria (17), a finding
that corroborated the initial suggestion of a relatively recent origin
of these introns during cyanobacterial evolution (3).
It has previously been demonstrated that two other eubacterial tRNA
genes are interrupted by group I introns, the
tRNACAUIle gene of Azoarcus sp. BH72 (a
-purple bacterium) and the tRNACCUArg gene of
Agrobacterium tumefaciens A136 (an
-purple bacterium) (18). Initial data suggested that similar introns are likely to be widespread among proteobacteria, as the Azoarcus and
Agrobacterium intron probes cross-hybridized to genomic DNA
from a number of purple bacteria (11, 18). Because
determining their phylogenetic distribution is a valuable tool to
assess the evolutionary history of group I introns (2, 17),
we decided to survey the distribution of the tRNACCUArg
intron among
-purple bacteria.
A tRNACCUArg intron in Azospirillum
halopraeferens.
It has been shown that a restriction fragment from
the genomic DNA of the
-purple bacterium A. halopraeferens Au5 hybridized to an Azoarcus intron
probe (18). The signal was also observed when the Southern
hybridization was repeated with an Agrobacterium tRNACCUArg intron probe (11). The
hybridizing region was cloned in pBSM13 as a 4.3-kb
PstI-SstI restriction fragment (pAGAU1.1) and
subsequently subcloned as a 400-bp AvaII fragment
(pAGAU1.2). The latter insert was completely sequenced on both strands,
revealing a tRNACCUArg gene interrupted by a potential
group I intron inserted after the U of the CCU anticodon (the same
position as the Agrobacterium intron). The 217-bp
Azospirillum intron sequence folds into a bona fide group I
secondary structure (Fig. 1) and shares
69% identity with the Agrobacterium intron (Table
1). In addition, like the
Agrobacterium intron, it self-splices in vitro (11, 18).

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FIG. 1.
Intron sequence alignment and secondary structures. (A)
DNA sequences of tRNACCUArg introns of the -purple
bacteria A. tumefaciens (At) (18), A. halopraeferens (Ah), and A. marginale (Am) are aligned
with tRNAUAALeu introns from three distantly related
cyanobacteria, M. aeruginosa (Ma) (19),
Oscillatoria PCC 6304 (Os) (17), and
Calothrix PCC 7101 (Ca) (17). Phylogenetically
conserved base-paired regions (P1 to P9) (15) are indicated,
with putative base-pairings underlined. Proposed base-pairing patterns
of the Microcystis intron have been altered from the
original report (19) to better conform to the conserved
secondary structure of group I introns (15). Numbers in
brackets indicate omitted sequence, and dashes represent gaps
introduced to improve the alignment. Primary sequence (*) or secondary
structural (+) similarities pointing to a closer relationship of the
Microcystis tRNAUAALeu introns to the
tRNACCUArg introns, rather than to the other known
cyanobacterial tRNAUAALeu introns, are shown below the
alignment. Note that these emphasized primary and secondary structural
motifs are conserved among the cyanobacterial
tRNAUAALeu introns (17), excluding the
Microcystis introns. (B) Schematic representation of the
consensus secondary structure of eubacterial tRNA group I introns,
drawn according to Cech et al. (5). Phylogenetically
conserved stems (P1 to P9), Watson-Crick base pairs (bars), and G-U
pairs (dots) are shown according to Michel and Westhoff
(15). Exons (dashed lines), the intron (thick lines), and
splice sites (arrows) are indicated. Thin lines are used to join
helical domains.
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|
PCR amplification of tRNACCUArg genes from various
-purple bacteria.
Based upon the exonic tRNA sequences of
Agrobacterium and Azospirillum, we designed
degenerate primers for amplifying tRNACCUArg genes from
various
-purple bacteria. We performed PCRs (17) on
either the extracted DNAs or cell pellets from 11 species, with the
primers ARG-5'
(5'-GTCC[G/A/T]CGATGCTCA[G/A][C/T]A[A/G]GATA-3') and
ARG-3'
(5'-TGGTGTCC[G/A/C]C[G/T][G/A][G/C][G/A/T]GGA[A/T]TCGAACC-3'). These primers were expected to amplify a sequence that includes the
entire anticodon stem and loop of the tRNA. Although PCR products of
~75 bp, the expected size of an uninterrupted tRNA gene, were amplified from all the samples, a PCR product of approximately 300 bp,
the expected size of an intron-containing gene was also amplified from
the DNA of Anaplasma marginale (Fig.
2). Cloning and sequencing of three
independent clones confirmed the identity of this product as a
tRNACCUArg gene interrupted by a group I intron
inserted after the U of the CCU anticodon. The
Anaplasma intron is similar both in primary sequence and
secondary structure to the other known tRNACCUArg group
I introns (Fig. 1; Table 1).

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FIG. 2.
PCR amplification of tRNAArg genes. The
migration in a 1% agarose gel of the PCR amplification products from
DNA or cell pellets of various -purple bacteria is shown. Am,
A. marginale; Bj, B. japonicum; Er, E. risticii; El, Erythrobacter longus; Me, M. extorquens; Pd, Paracoccus denitrificans; Re, R. etli; Rs, Rhodobacter sphaeroides; Rc, R. centenaria; Rr, Rhodospirillum rubrum; Rp, R. prowazekii; , no DNA (negative control); M, 100-bp DNA marker
(Gibco/BRL) (sizes are indicated on the right side of the gel). Some of
the samples shown here are the results of a reamplification (Am, Bj,
Me, and Pd). R. etli and R. prowazekii are the
two species from which the tRNACCUArg genes could not
be detected.
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|
To substantiate the apparent absence of introns in the
tRNACCUArg genes of the other 10 species (Fig. 2), we
sequenced up to 10 different tRNA-sized clones for each of them.
Interestingly, the primers amplified various tRNAArg genes,
not exclusively tRNACCUArg genes as intended (Table
2). For instance, the tRNA-sized PCR product from Anaplasma resulted from the amplification of a
cognate tRNACCGArg gene, not from a second, intronless
copy of the tRNACCUArg gene. In 4 of the 10 species we
surveyed, the tRNACCUArg gene was not amplified.
Alignment of tRNA gene sequences revealed that the first four
nucleotides of tRNAYCUArg as amplified by our initial
set of primers were invariably 5'-GAGC-3' (Fig.
3), whereas most of the other
tRNAArg sequences started with 5'-GAGT-3' (data not shown).
We exploited this discrepancy at the fourth position by designing a
primer, ARG-5'EXT
(5'-CC[G/A/T]CGATGCTCA[G/A][C/T]A[A/G]GATAGAGC-3'), to specifically amplify tRNAYCUArg from those
four species for which we failed to detect the
tRNACCUArg gene. Using the ARG-5'EXT and ARG-3'
primers, we were able to amplify the tRNACCUArg genes
from two additional species (Table 2). All PCR mixtures were subjected
to Southern hybridization with a radiolabeled Agrobacterium intron-specific probe, and as expected, only the intron-containing product of Anaplasma hybridized to the probe (data not
shown). In summary, we identified a tRNACCUArg gene
from 11 of 13 species, three of which contained an intron (Table 2). We
could not amplify the corresponding gene from two species,
Rhizobium etli and Rickettsia prowazekii. The
genome of R. prowazekii has been completely sequenced and,
as in some other bacterial genomes (e.g., Mycoplasma
genitalium [10] and Haemophilus
influenzae [9]), the tRNACCUArg
gene is lacking (1). Assuming a G-U wobble,
tRNAUCUArg can substitute for
tRNACCUArg in decoding AGG triplets. Therefore, it is
possible that the tRNACCUArg gene is also missing from
the genome of R. etli.

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FIG. 3.
Alignment of tRNACCUArg gene sequences.
Base-pairing in the acceptor stem (A), anticodon stem (Ac), D stem (D),
and T stem (T), the intron insertion site (arrow), the anticodon
sequence (underline), and the position used to restrict amplification
to tRNAYCUArg genes (double underline) are indicated.
N, any of the four possible nucleotides. I+ and I , intron plus and
minus, respectively. At, A. tumefaciens; Ah, A. halopraeferens; Am, A. marginale; Bj, B. japonicum; Er, E. risticii; El, E. longus;
Me, M. extorquens; Pd, P. denitrificans; Rs,
R. sphaeroides; Rc, R. centenaria; Rr, R. rubrum. Except for At and Ah, the tRNACCUArg genes
were amplified by PCR. Sequences of the introns (shown in Fig. 1) and
primers are omitted. The shorter sequences for E. longus and
R. sphaeroides denote the use of the longer primer,
ARG-5'EXT.
|
|
Distribution and evolution of the tRNACCUArg intron
among
-purple bacteria.
The 13 species we have selected for
this study represent only a sampling of the diversity of
-purple
bacteria. Nevertheless, the distribution of the
tRNACCUArg intron is informative because of the
phylogenetic relationship among the species we surveyed. We believe the
distribution of tRNACCUArg introns is best
explained by a recent origin and horizontal transmission, rather than
by an ancient origin and differential loss in various
-purple
lineages. Our reasoning is as follows. First, the three species
possessing a tRNACCUArg intron, A. tumefaciens, A. halopraeferens, and A. marginale, are widely divergent
-purple bacteria (Fig.
4; see also the phylogenetic tree
compiled by the Ribosomal Database Project [RDP] in reference 14). Second, A. marginale and
Ehrlichia risticii branch within a monophyletic clade of
closely related species, but only the Anaplasma
tRNACCUArg gene contains an intron. The same is also
true for A. halopraeferens (intron present) and
Rhodocista centenaria (also known as Rhodospirillum centenum) (no intron).

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FIG. 4.
rRNA phylogenetic tree. Prealigned small subunit rRNA
sequences were extracted from the RDP web site (14) for the
11 species whose tRNACCUArg genes were detected. The
tree was inferred with DNADIST (Kimura two-parameter model
[12], with a transition/transversion ratio of 2) and
NEIGHBOR (20) as implemented in PHYLIP (8).
Bootstrap (7) values were deduced from 100 replicates (only
those values higher than 50 are shown). Branches conserved between this
tree and that published on the RDP web site (14) are
indicated (*), and species harboring a tRNACCUArg
intron are boxed. Note the scattered distribution of the three
tRNACCUArg intron-containing species; a monophyletic
clade grouping these three species is supported by a bootstrap value of
<1%. The topology shown has been suggested by the branching position
of an outgroup ( -purple bacterium Ectothiorhodospira
shaposhnikovii).
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Group I intron mobility is mediated by intron-encoded homing
endonucleases or, alternatively, occurs via reverse splicing (for a
review of group I intron mobility, see reference
21). Unlike reverse splicing, in which only the
intron sequence is transferred, endonuclease-dependent mobility is
accompanied by coconversion of flanking sequences. Interestingly,
pairwise comparisons of the amplified regions of the tRNA genes shown
in Fig. 3 reveal a striking similarity among the three
intron-containing species (1, 2, or 3 differences, respectively, in 30 bp). On the other hand, with the exception of two identical pairs
(E. risticii-Bradyrhizobium japonicum and
Methylobacterium extorquens-R. centenaria) all of the other
pairwise comparisons display 6 to 17 differences with a mean of 11 differences (note that, as expected, the 7-bp sequence defining the
anticodon loop is virtually identical among all 11 species).
Considering the fact that the three intron-containing species are not
particularly closely related (Fig. 4), this observation is reminiscent
of a recent endonuclease-dependent invasion. Although none of the
introns described in this study contains an open reading frame (ORF),
it would not be surprising if an ORF-containing intron is present in
some other, unsurveyed species. For example, in a recent survey of
cyanobacteria, tRNA-fMet genes of seven distantly related species were
interrupted by highly similar introns. However, only one of these
introns contained an endonuclease-encoding ORF (4, 17).
Recently, Rudi and Jacobsen showed that group I introns in
tRNAUAALeu genes were sporadically distributed in
strains of the cyanobacterium M. aeruginosa; six introns
were found in 16 strains (19). Three of these introns were
sequenced and shown to be almost identical (>99.5% identity) but only
<61.5% identical to the previously described cyanobacterial
tRNAUAALeu introns (19), whereas the latter
are highly similar among themselves (Table 1; see also reference
17). Therefore, it was suggested that the
tRNAUAALeu introns in cyanobacteria are polyphyletic
and that the Microcystis introns originated independently
through horizontal transfer (19). The Microcystis
tRNAUAALeu introns most likely share a more recent
common ancestor with the
-purple tRNACCUArg introns
than either does with the other cyanobacterial
tRNAUAALeu introns. This is supported by comparisons of
primary sequences (Table 1; see also reference 19)
and secondary structures (Fig. 1), as well as phylogenetic analyses
(19 and data not shown). However, the origin of the
tRNAUAALeu introns, excluding the
Microcystis introns, appears to be monophyletic (17). Taken together, these results suggest that the
Microcystis introns originated from a
tRNACCUArg-like intron by horizontal transfer. This
represents an interesting case of intron transposition and horizontal
transmission between widely divergent species (cyanobacteria and
-purple bacteria).
Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.
The intron sequences
reported here have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers
AF081791 (A. marginale) and AF081792 (A. halopraeferens).
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank David Edgell and an anonymous reviewer for helpful
comments and critical readings of the manuscript, David Mulbauher and
Markus Landthaler for assistance in cloning and sequencing some of the
clones, and Siv Andersson for sharing unpublished data.
This work was supported by NIH grant GM37746. B.P. was a postdoctoral
fellow of NSERC (Canada).
 |
FOOTNOTES |
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biological Sciences and Center for Molecular Genetics, University at Albany
SUNY, Albany, NY 12222. Phone: (518) 442-4324. Fax: (518) 442-4767. E-mail: shub{at}cnsunix.albany.edu.
Present address: Département de Biochimie, Université
de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.
Present address: FG Microbial Ecology, Technical University
Berlin, D-10587 Berlin, Germany.
 |
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Journal of Bacteriology, February 1999, p. 1049-1053, Vol. 181, No. 3
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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