The Agaricus bisporus cox1 gene: the longest mitochondrial gene and the largest reservoir of mitochondrial group i introns.

ABSTRACT: In eukaryotes, introns are located in nuclear and organelle genes from several kingdoms. Large introns (up to 5 kbp) are frequent in mitochondrial genomes of plant and fungi but scarce in Metazoa, even if these organisms are grouped with fungi among the Opisthokonts. Mitochondrial introns are classified in two groups (I and II) according to their RNA secondary structure involved in the intron self-splicing mechanism. Most of these mitochondrial group I introns carry a "Homing Endonuclease Gene" (heg) encoding a DNA endonuclease acting in transfer and site-specific integration ("homing") and allowing intron spreading and gain after lateral transfer even between species from different kingdoms. Opposed to this gain mechanism, is another which implies that introns, which would have been abund

SUBMITTER: Ferandon C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2987802 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature