To have or have not — recurrent intron loss in plants

A comprehensive analysis of five sequenced grass genomes provides new insights into the patterns of recurrent intron loss throughout evolution and its underlying molecular mechanisms. Wang et al. identified 93 recurrent intron losses in 883 regions where genomes varied with regards to intron presence or absence. Recurrent intron loss was nonrandom and affected only a small number of introns that were repeatedly lost in multiple lineages. The study additionally highlights a possible role for DNA methylation in the process of intron loss.