Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 14, 518-526, Copyright © 1997 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
CH Sellem and L Belcour
Group I introns are proposed to have become mobile following the
acquisition of open reading frames (ORFs) that encode highly specific DNA
endonucleases. This proposal implies that intron ORFs could behave as
autonomously mobile entities. This was supported by abundant circumstantial
evidence but no experiment of ORF transfer from an ORF- containing intron
to its ORF-less counterpart has been described. In this paper we present
such experiments, which demonstrate the efficient mobility of the
mitochondrial nad1-i4-orf1 between two Podospora strains. The homing of
this mobile ORF was accompanied by a bidirectional co-conversion that did
not systematically involve the whole intron sequence. Orf1 acquisition
would be the most recent step in the evolution of the nad1-i4 intron, which
has resulted in many strains of Podospora having an intron with two ORFs
(biorfic) and four splicing pathways. We show that two of the splicing
events that operate in this biorfic intron, as evidenced by PCR
experiments, are generated by a 5'-alternative splice site, which is most
probably a remnant of the monoorfic ancestral form of the intron. We
propose a sequential evolution model that is consistent with the four
organizations of the corresponding nad1 locus that we found among various
species of the Pyrenomycete family; these organizations consist of no
intron, an intron alone, a monoorfic intron, and a biorfic intron.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Intron open reading frames as mobile elements and evolution of a group I intron
Centre de Genetique Moleculaire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France. sellem@cgm.cnrs-gif.fr
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