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Mitochondrial class II introns encode proteins related to the reverse transcriptases of retroviruses

Nature volume 316, pages 641–643 (1985)Cite this article

Abstract

Organelle introns share several distinctive features that set them apart from their counterparts in nuclear-encoded pre-messenger RNAs (reviewed in ref. 1): (1) their termini do not obey the GU… AG rule; (2) the introns are ‘structured’ (members of the same family or ‘class’ can theoretically adopt very similar RNA secondary conformations1–3 and several of the postulated pairings have been confirmed by studies of splicing mutants and their revertants (see, for example, ref. 4); (3) many introns from both classes contain long open reading frames5–10. We report here that the proteins potentially encoded by four class II introns are related to several RNA-dependent polymerases of viral and transposable element origins.

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Author notes

  1. B. Franz Lang

    Present address: Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS, 15 rue Descartes, 67084, Strasbourg, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Génétique Moléculaire du CNRS, Laboratoire propre associé à l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    François Michel

  2. Institut für Genetik und Mikrobiologie der Universität München, Maria-Ward-Straβe 1a, D 8000, München, 19, FRG

    B. Franz Lang

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  1. François Michel
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  2. B. Franz Lang
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Michel, F., Lang, B. Mitochondrial class II introns encode proteins related to the reverse transcriptases of retroviruses. Nature 316, 641–643 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316641a0

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