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Intron Biology, Focusing on Group II Introns, the Ancestors of Spliceosomal Introns

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Genomic Elements in Health, Disease and Evolution

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Abstract

Self-splicing group II introns are large ribozymes and mobile retroelements initially identified in the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of lower eukaryotes and plants and subsequently found in bacteria and archaea. Group II introns display structural, functional and mechanistic similarities to eukaryotic pre-mRNA nuclear introns, which may have evolved from mobile group II introns. As in spliceosomal introns, the ribozyme of group II introns excises the intron as a branched, lariat structure, through two sequential transesterification reactions. The movement of group II introns is mediated by a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex consisting of the IEP encoded by the ORF and the spliced intron lariat RNA, which remains associated with the IEP. These RNP complexes recognize intron targets through both the IEP and the intron lariat RNA. New possibilities for the use of these introns as biotechnological tools are emerging, due to the small number and flexibility of interactions between IEPs and target sites, through the modification of the intron RNA motifs that recognize DNA target sites by base pairing.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research grants BIO2011-24401 and BIO2014-51953-P from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, and CSD 2009-0006 from Consolider-Ingenio Programme, which includes ERDF (European Regional Development Funds).

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  1. Grupo de Ecología Genética, Microbiología del Suelo y Sistemas Simbióticos, Estación Experimental del Zaidín/Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, C/Profesor Albareda, N.1, Granada, Spain, 18008

    María Dolores Molina-Sánchez Ph.D., Rafael Nisa-Martínez Ph.D., Fernando M. García-Rodríguez Ph.D., Francisco Martínez-Abarca Ph.D. & Nicolás Toro Ph.D.

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  1. María Dolores Molina-Sánchez Ph.D.
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  2. Rafael Nisa-Martínez Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Nicolás Toro Ph.D. .

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  1. Department of Life and Health Sciences and University of Nicosia Medical School, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Kyriacos Felekkis

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Konstantinos Voskarides

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Molina-Sánchez, M.D., Nisa-Martínez, R., García-Rodríguez, F.M., Martínez-Abarca, F., Toro, N. (2015). Intron Biology, Focusing on Group II Introns, the Ancestors of Spliceosomal Introns. In: Felekkis, K., Voskarides, K. (eds) Genomic Elements in Health, Disease and Evolution. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3070-8_8

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