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Diversity of group II introns in the genome of Sinorhizobium meliloti strain 1021: splicing and mobility of RmInt1

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Abstract

The number and diversity of known group II introns in eubacteria are continually increasing with the addition of new data from sequencing projects, but the significance of these introns in the evolution of bacterial genomes is unknown. We analyzed the main features of the group II introns present in the genome of the soil microorganism Sinorhizobium meliloti (strain 1021), the nitrogen-fixing symbiont of alfalfa, the DNA sequence of which was recently determined. Strain 1021 harbors three different classes of group II introns: RmInt1, of bacterial class D; SMb2147/SMb21167, which cluster within bacterial class C; and SMa1875, the phylogenetic class of which is uncertain. The group II introns SMb2147/SMb21167 and SMa1875 are widely distributed in S. meliloti, but are present in lower copy numbers than RmInt1. Strain 1021 harbors three copies of RmInt1, which is pSym-specific. Although RmInt1 is spliced in strain 1021, mobility assays suggested that, in contrast to other S. meliloti strains, the genetic background of strain 1021 does not support intron homing events.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. José Ignacio Jiménez Zurdo and Dr. Steven Zimmerly for critical reading of the manuscript and Robert Olson who contribute to the folding of intron Sma1875. This work was supported by Grants BIO99-0905 and BIO2002-02579 from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología

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  1. Grupo de Ecología Genética, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Calle Profesor Albareda 1, 18008 , Granada, Spain

    N. Toro, F. Martínez-Abarca, M. Fernández-López & E. Muñoz-Adelantado

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  1. N. Toro
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  2. F. Martínez-Abarca
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  3. M. Fernández-López
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  4. E. Muñoz-Adelantado
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Correspondence to N. Toro.

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Communicated by W. Arber

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Toro, N., Martínez-Abarca, F., Fernández-López, M. et al. Diversity of group II introns in the genome of Sinorhizobium meliloti strain 1021: splicing and mobility of RmInt1. Mol Gen Genomics 268, 628–636 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-002-0778-y

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