title: Intron-specific RNA binding proteins in the chloroplast of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
abstract: Mitochondria and chloroplasts both contain group II introns which are believed to be the ancestors of nuclear spliceosomal introns. We used the mitochondrial group II intron rI1 from the green alga Scenedesmus obliquus for biochemical characterization of intron-specific RNA binding proteins. rI1 is correctly spliced from a chloroplast precursor RNA when integrated into the chloroplast genome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Glycerol gradients revealed the sedimentation profile of transcripts containing intron rI1 in native C. reinhardtii extracts and in deproteinized RNA preparations, thus indicating the association of rI1 containing transcripts with high molecular weight ribonucleoprotein complexes in vivo. Furthermore, the specific binding of a 61 kDa protein and a 31 kDa protein with the conserved domain IV was demonstrated using a set of intron derivatives for in vitro RNA binding experiments. We propose that we have biochemically characterized 'general splicing factors', which enable the successful splicing even of mitochondrial introns in chloroplasts.
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine und Molekulare Botanik, Fakultät für Biologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bunse
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nickelsen
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kück
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007438:Introns; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D010957:Plasmids; D012326:RNA Splicing; D018747:RNA, Chloroplast / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D018747:RNA, Chloroplast; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins