title: A site-specific self-cleavage reaction performed by a novel RNA in Neurospora mitochondria.
abstract: We describe a novel DNA and RNA found in the mitochondria of the Varkud-1c natural isolate of Neurospora. The majority of the RNA, termed VSRNA, is an 881 nucleotide single-stranded circular molecule complementary to one strand of a low copy, double-stranded circular DNA, VSDNA. VSRNA combines some features of the human hepatitis delta virus, group I introns, retroelements, and plant viral satellite RNAs. VSRNA synthesized in vitro performs a self-cleavage reaction whose products terminate with a 5' hydroxyl and a 2',3' cyclic phosphate. This reaction may be involved in the natural processing pathway of multimeric VSRNA in vivo. VSRNA lacks a hammer-head structure or substantial sequence similarity to any other self-cleaving RNA, suggesting that the RNA structure involved in cleavage may be different from those in previously characterized catalytic RNAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Saville
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D006152:Cyclic GMP / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009491:Neurospora / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D006152:Cyclic GMP