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MBE Advance Access published online on April 6, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msi144
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted April 1, 2005

Research Article

Dispersal and Evolution of the Sinorhizobium meliloti Group II RmInt1 Intron in Bacteria that Interact with Plants

Manuel Fernández-López 1, Estefanía Muñoz-Adelantado 1, Moniek Gillis 2, Anne Willems 2, and Nicolás Toro 1*

1 Grupo de Ecología Genética, Departamento de Microbiología del Suelo y Sistemas Simbióticos, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, calle Profesor Albareda 1, E-18008 Granada, Spain
2 Laboratorium voor Microbiologie, Vakgroep Biochemie, Fysiologie, Microbiologie, Faculteit Wetenschappen, Universiteit Gent, Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nicolás Toro, E-mail: ntoro{at}eez.csic.es


  Abstract

Group II introns are both self-splicing RNAs and mobile retroelements found in bacterial and archaeal genomes, and in organelles of eukaryotes. They are thought to be the ancestors of eukaryote spliceosomal introns and non LTR retrotransposons. We show here that RmInt1, a bacterial group II intron first described in the nitrogen-fixing symbiont of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) Sinorhizobium meliloti, is also present in other Sinorhizobium and Rhizobium species. The intron homing sites in these species are IS elements of the ISRm2011-2 group as in S. meliloti, but ectopic insertion is also observed. We present evidence that these related bacteria have acquired RmInt1 by vertical inheritance from a common ancestor and by independent horizontal transfer events. We also show that RmInt1 is mobile in related taxa of bacteria that interact with plants and tends to evolve toward an inactive form by fragmentation, with loss of the 3'terminus including the intron-encoded protein. Our results provide an overview of the evolution and dispersion of a bacterial group II intron.

Keywords: group II intron; RmInt1; nitrogen-fixation; legumes; Sinorhizobium meliloti; Rhizobiales; ribozyme; reverse transcriptase.
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