The unusual 23S rRNA gene of Coxiella burnetii: two self-splicing group I introns flank a 34-base-pair exon, and one element lacks the canonical omegaG.

ABSTRACT: We describe the presence and characteristics of two self-splicing group I introns in the sole 23S rRNA gene of Coxiella burnetii. The two group I introns, Cbu.L1917 and Cbu.L1951, are inserted at sites 1917 and 1951 (Escherichia coli numbering), respectively, in the 23S rRNA gene of C. burnetii. Both introns were found to be self-splicing in vivo and in vitro even though the terminal nucleotide of Cbu.L1917 is adenine and not the canonical conserved guanine, termed OmegaG, found in Cbu.L1951 and all other group I introns described to date. Predicted secondary structures for both introns were constructed and revealed that Cbu.L1917 and Cbu.L1951 were group IB2 and group IA3 introns, respectively. We analyzed strains belonging to eight genomic groups of C. burnetii to determine sequence vari

SUBMITTER: Raghavan R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2045182 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature