Trans-splicing of the Ll.LtrB group II intron in Lactococcus lactis.

ABSTRACT: The Ll.LtrB intron from the Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis is one of the most studied bacterial group II introns. Ll.LtrB interrupts the relaxase gene of three L. lactis conjugative elements. The relaxase enzyme recognizes the origin of transfer (oriT ) and initiates the intercellular transfer of its conjugative element. The splicing efficiency of Ll.LtrB from the relaxase transcript thus controls the conjugation level of its host element. Here, we used the level of sex factor conjugation as a read-out for Ll.LtrB splicing efficiency. Using this highly sensitive splicing/conjugation assay (10(7)-fold detection range), we demonstrate that Ll.LtrB can trans-splice in L. lactis when fragmented at various positions such as: three different locations within domain IV, within domain

SUBMITTER: Belhocine K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1874635 | biostudies-literature | 2007

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature