title: Group I introns found in Chlorella viruses: biological implications.
abstract: More than 80 group I introns were detected and characterized in Chlorella viruses isolated from various locations in Japan; the overall average frequency of viruses containing the group I intron was 8.0%. Although most of these introns were inserted in the gene for either transcriptional elongation factor TFIIS (approximately 60%) or URF 14.2 (unidentified open reading frame coding for a 14.2-kDa polypeptide) (approximately 40%), in a few cases, the gene for the major capsid protein Vp52 contained an intron. These introns were biologically active (self-splicing) both in vivo and in vitro. Viruses that contained introns almost usually contained only one, but more than two introns coexisted in several virus isolates. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that the intron sequences have diverged under strong constraint of the exon genes: introns in the same gene showed more than 99% sequence identity, whereas introns in different genes were only 72-78% identical. Phylogenetic analysis suggested relatedness of these introns to those found in the rRNA genes of a variety of organisms including green algae, red algae, red algae, yeasts, fungi, and protozoa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujie
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002708:Chlorella / Q000821:virology*; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000235:genetics*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I