Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1993 Mar 15;90(6):2547-50.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.6.2547.

An intron within the 16S ribosomal RNA gene of the archaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum

S Burggraf  1 , N Larsen, C R Woese, K O Stetter
Collaborators, Affiliations

An intron within the 16S ribosomal RNA gene of the archaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum

S Burggraf et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

The 16S rRNA genes of Pyrobaculum aerophilum and Pyrobaculum islandicum were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction, and the resulting products were sequenced directly. The two organisms are closely related by this measure (over 98% similar). However, they differ in that the (lone) 16S rRNA gene of Pyrobaculum aerophilum contains a 713-bp intron not seen in the corresponding gene of Pyrobaculum islandicum. To our knowledge, this is the only intron so far reported in the small subunit rRNA gene of a prokaryote. Upon excision the intron is circularized. A secondary structure model of the intron-containing rRNA suggests a splicing mechanism of the same type as that invoked for the tRNA introns of the Archaea and Eucarya and 23S rRNAs of the Archaea. The intron contains an open reading frame whose protein translation shows no certain homology with any known protein sequence.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Jun;87(12):4576-9 - PubMed
    1. J Bacteriol. 1989 Dec;171(12):6455-67 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Jan 15;88(2):439-43 - PubMed
    1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1992 May 11;20 Suppl:2199-200 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Jun 15;89(12):5577-81 - PubMed

Associated data