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Bacteria and Archaea Group II introns: additional mobile genetic elements in the environment
Author(s) -
Toro Nicolás
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1046/j.1462-2920.2003.00398.x
Subject(s) - biology , group ii intron , group i catalytic intron , archaea , intron , minor spliceosome , mobile genetic elements , bacteria , genetics , rna splicing , genome , gene , evolutionary biology , rna
Summary Self‐splicing group II introns are present in the organelles of lower eukaryotes, plants and Bacteria and have been found recently in Archaea. It is generally accepted that group II introns originated in bacteria before spreading to mitochondria and chloroplasts. These introns are thought to be related to the progenitors of spliceosomal introns. Group II introns are also mobile genetic elements. In bacteria, they appear to spread using either other mobile genetic elements or low‐expression regions as target sites. Bacteria and Archaea genome sequence annotations have revealed the diversity of group II intron classes and that they are involved in vertical and horizontal inheritance.