Characterization of the Group II Intron Gs. Int1 from the Thermophilic Bacterium <em>Geobacillus stearothermophilus</em>.

• Main Author: Sun, Huijing
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2007
• Subjects: Group II Intron; Geobacillus stearothermophilus; Thermophilic bacterium; Genetics and Genomics; Life Sciences; Molecular Genetics
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2026; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3387&amp;context=etd

Group II Introns are small segments of DNA that reside in the chromosome of bacteria or the organelles of primitive eukaryotes. These elements have some very interesting properties. First, they are retrotransposons that can move from one location to a new location in DNA via a reverse transcription mechanism. Second, they form a large ribozyme that mediates self-splicing of the intron from pre-mRNA. A Group II Intron type protein with similarity to reverse transcriptase was discovered in the thermophilic bacterium Geobacillus stearothermophilus strain 10 (Vellore et al., 2004, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 7140-7147). Numerous copies of the intron, designated Gs. Int1, are present in the chromosome of strain 10 but absent from a related strain ATCC 12980. Experiments to detect the in vivo splicing of intron Gs.Int1 from G. stearothermophilus cells did not work. Plasmids to that will over-express the Gs. Int1 intron to detest splicing in vivo in Escherichia coli have been constructed.