title: Palindromic repetitive elements in the mitochondrial genome of Volvox.
abstract: Group I introns were found in the cob and cox I genes of Volvox carteri. These introns contain tandem arrays of short palindromic sequences that are related to each other. Inspection of other regions in the mtDNA revealed that similar palindromic repetitive sequences are dispersed in the non-protein coding regions of the mitochondrial genome. Analysis of the group I intron in the cob gene of another member of Volvocaceae, Volvox aureus, has shown that its sequence is highly homologous to its counterpart in V. carteri with the exception of a cluster of palindromic sequences not found in V. carteri. This indicates that the palindromic clusters were inserted into the introns after divergence of the two species, presumably due to frequent insertions of the palindromic elements during evolution of the Volvocaceae. Possible involvement of the palindromic repetitive elements in the molecular evolution of functional RNAs is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aono
authors.forename: Toshinobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Tan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D007438:Introns; D008928:Mitochondria; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial