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Nucleic Acids Research 2005 33(16):5262-5270; doi:10.1093/nar/gki819
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Published online 16 September 2005

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions{at}oxfordjournals.org

Article

Localization, mobility and fidelity of retrotransposed Group II introns in rRNA genes

Lori H. Conlan, Matthew J. Stanger, Kenji Ichiyanagi and Marlene Belfort*

Wadsworth Center, Center for Medical Science, New York State Department of Health 150 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY 12208, USA

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +518 473 3345; Fax: +518 474 3181; Email: belfort{at}wadsworth.org

Received July 18, 2005. Revised August 19, 2005. Accepted August 19, 2005.

We previously showed that the group II Lactococcus lactis Ll.LtrB intron could retrotranspose into ectopic locations on the genome of its native host. Two integration events, which had been mapped to unique sequences, were localized in the present study to separate copies of the six L.lactis 23S rRNA genes, within operon B or D. Although further movement within the bacterial chromosome was undetectable, the retrotransposed introns were able to re-integrate into their original homing site provided on a plasmid. This finding indicates not only that retrotransposed group II introns retain mobility properties, but also that movement occurs back into sequence that is heterologous to the sequence of the chromosomal location. Sequence analysis of the retrotransposed introns and the secondary mobility events back to the homing site showed that the introns retain sequence integrity. These results are illuminating, since the reverse transcriptase (RT) of the intron-encoded protein, LtrA, has no known proofreading function, yet the mobility events have a low error rate. Enzymatic digests were used to monitor sequence changes from the wild-type intron. The results indicate that retromobility events have ~10–5 misincorporations per nucleotide inserted. In contrast to the high RT error rates for retroviruses that must escape host defenses, the infrequent mutations of group II introns would ensure intron spread through retention of sequences essential for mobility.

Present address: Kenji Ichiyanagi, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan


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