title: Protein splicing: selfish genes invade cellular proteins.
abstract: Protein splicing is a series of enzymatic events involving intramolecular protein breakage, rejoining and intron homing, in which introns are able to promote the recombinative transposition of their own coding sequences. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic spliced proteins have conserved similar gene structure, but little amino acid identity. The genes coding for these spliced proteins contain internal in-frame introns that encode polypeptides that apparently self-excise from the resulting host protein sequences. Excision of the 'protein intron' is coupled with joining of the two flanking protein regions encoded by exons of the host gene. Some introns of this type encode DNA endonucleases, related to Group I RNA intron gene products, that stimulate gene conversion and self-transmission.
authors.affiliation: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York.
authors.forename: N F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Neff
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; D005796:Genes; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000378:metabolism; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000737:chemistry; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins; D011938:Rec A Recombinases; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases; D010450:Endopeptidases; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; C064553:VPS1 protein, S cerevisiae; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases; C081687:VMA1 protein, S cerevisiae