Abstract
THE three self-splicing introns in phage T4 (in the td, sunY and nrdB genes) (Fig. 1a) each have the conserved group I catalytic RNA core structure (Fig. 1b), 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 nrdB introns have led to 'exon shuffling'2. Here we describe spontaneous double crossovers between the unlinked td and sunY 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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/346394a0
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