Summary
In this paper we report the inability of four group I introns in the gene encoding subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase (cox1) and the group II intron in the apocytochrome b gene (cob) to splice autocatalytically. Furthermore we present the characterization of the first cox1 intron in the mutator strain ana r-14 and the construction and characterization of strains with intronless mitochondrial genomes. We provide evidence that removal of introns at the DNA level (termed DNA splicing) is dependent on an active RNA maturase. Finally we demonstrate that the absence of introns does not abolish homologous mitochondrial recombination.
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Abbreviations
- cox1, cox2, cox3 :
-
genes encoding subunits 1, 2 and 3 of cytochrome
- c :
-
oxidase
- cob :
-
gene encoding apocytochrome b
- cox1I1, cox1I2a, cox1I2b, cox1I3 :
-
introns in cox1
- cox1Ix +/− :
-
indicates the presence or absence of the intron either in the native gene or after intron DNA excision
- cox1Ix δ :
-
is a deletion in the intron leading to respiratory deficiency
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Communicated by W. Gajewski
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Schäfer, B., Merlos-Lange, A.M., Anderl, C. et al. The mitochondrial genome of fission yeast: inability of all introns to splice autocatalytically, and construction and characterization of an intronless genome. Molec. Gen. Genet. 225, 158–167 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282654
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282654