title: The antiquity of group I introns.
abstract: The recent discovery of self-splicing introns in cyanobacteria has given renewed interest to the question of whether introns may have been present in the ancestor of all living things. The properties of introns in genes of bacteria and bacteriophages are discussed in the context of their possible origin and biological function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Albany, New York 12222.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Shub
mesh_terms: D000828:Animal Population Groups / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons; D005796:Genes; D007438:Introns; D005810:Multigene Family; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics; D012326:RNA Splicing; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000502:physiology; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012343:RNA, Transfer