The ins and outs of group II introns.
Group II introns have attracted considerable attention as ribozymes, mobile genetic elements and possible progenitors of nuclear spliceosomal introns. Major advances in understanding their catalytic structure and dispersal strategies have recently come from several model mitochondrial and bacterial self-splicing introns. In Nature, this family of introns shows wide variation in both features and behaviour, and this review includes a focus on the diversity of evolutionary pathways taken.
Bonen
L
L
Biology Dept, University of Ottawa, 30 Marie Curie St, Ottawa, Canada K1N 6N5. lbonen@science.uottawa.ca
Vogel
J
J
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D012326:RNA Splicing
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D012313:RNA