Mobile Bacterial Group II Introns at the Crux of Eukaryotic Evolution.

ABSTRACT: This review focuses on recent developments in our understanding of group II intron function, the relationships of these introns to retrotransposons and spliceosomes, and how their common features have informed thinking about bacterial group II introns as key elements in eukaryotic evolution. Reverse transcriptase-mediated and host factor-aided intron retrohoming pathways are considered along with retrotransposition mechanisms to novel sites in bacteria, where group II introns are thought to have originated. DNA target recognition and movement by target-primed reverse transcription infer an evolutionary relationship among group II introns, non-LTR retrotransposons, such as LINE elements, and telomerase. Additionally, group II introns are almost certainly the progenitors of spliceosomal intr

SUBMITTER: Lambowitz AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4394904 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature