Class I self-splicing introns are found in the T-even bacteriophage family

Conference · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6173081

Chu, F K; Maley, F; Maley, G F

The thymidylate synthase gene (td) and ribonucleotide reductase B2 subunit gene (nrdB) EMBO both of bacteriophage T4 in origin, are procaryotic intron-containing protein-encoding genes. To screen for other procaryotic introns, southern hybridization analysis of several procaryotic genomes was carried out, using T4 phage td DNA restriction fragments and synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides defining strategic td exon and intron regions. Furthermore, the labeling pattern of total RNA with (..cap alpha..-/sup 32/P)GTP, a typical reaction of self-splicing RNAs (class I), was examined. Experimental data implicate multiple self-splicing introns only in the T-even phages: five (1, 0.9, 0.83, 0.75 and 0.6 kb) in T4 and three (1, 0.9 and 0.75 kb) each in T2 and T6 phages. Northern hybridization analysis of total RNA extracted from T-even phage-infected cells confirms that the 1 kb RNA from each phage is in fact the excised intron segment from the precursor RNA transcribed from an intron-containing td gene in each case. This RNA cyclizes to form a contiguous circular molecule. The 0.6 kb RNA is most likely the T4 phage nrdB intron which seems to be absent from the corresponding gene in T2 and T6. The remaining RNA species are candidates for other self-splicing introns in these phages.

• Research Organization: New York State Dept. of Health, Albany
• OSTI ID: 6173081
• Report Number(s): CONF-870644-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States) Journal Volume: 46:6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550201* -- Biochemistry-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BACTERIOPHAGES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHROMOSOMES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
GENES
HYBRIDIZATION
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MICROORGANISMS
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
NUCLEI
NUCLEIC ACIDS
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PARASITES
PHOSPHORUS 32
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
RADIOISOTOPES
RNA
TRACER TECHNIQUES
VIRUSES