title: The DNA polymerase genes of several HMU-bacteriophages have similar group I introns with highly divergent open reading frames.
abstract: A previous report described the discovery of a group I, self-splicing intron in the DNA polymerase gene of the Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage SPO1 (1). In this study, the DNA polymerase genes of three close relatives of SPO1: SP82, 2C and phi e, were also found to be interrupted by an intron. All of these introns have group I secondary structures that are extremely similar to one another in primary sequence. Each is interrupted by an open reading frame (ORF) that, unlike the intron core or exon sequences, are highly diverged. Unlike the relatives of Escherichia coli bacteriophage T4, most of which do not have introns (2), this intron seems to be common among the relatives of SPO1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, SUNY 12222.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goodrich-Blair
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Shub
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017103:Bacillus Phages / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000821:virology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase