Localized Retroprocessing as a Model of Intron Loss in the Plant Mitochondrial Genome.

ABSTRACT: Loss of introns in plant mitochondrial genes is commonly explained by retroprocessing. Under this model, an mRNA is reverse transcribed and integrated back into the genome, simultaneously affecting the contents of introns and edited sites. To evaluate the extent to which retroprocessing explains intron loss, we analyzed patterns of intron content and predicted RNA editing for whole mitochondrial genomes of 30 species in the monocot order Alismatales. In this group, we found an unusually high degree of variation in the intron content, even expanding the hitherto known variation among angiosperms. Some species have lost some two-third of the cis-spliced introns. We found a strong correlation between intron content and editing frequency, and detected 27 events in which intron loss is consiste

SUBMITTER: Cuenca A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4987113 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature