Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 4 April 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5872, pp. 77 - 82
DOI: 10.1126/science.1153803
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Crystal Structure of a Self-Spliced Group II Intron

Navtej Toor,1* Kevin S. Keating,2 Sean D. Taylor,3 Anna Marie Pyle1,4*

Group II introns are self-splicing ribozymes that catalyze their own excision from precursor transcripts and insertion into new genetic locations. Here we report the crystal structure of an intact, self-spliced group II intron from Oceanobacillus iheyensis at 3.1 angstrom resolution. An extensive network of tertiary interactions facilitates the ordered packing of intron subdomains around a ribozyme core that includes catalytic domain V. The bulge of domain V adopts an unusual helical structure that is located adjacent to a major groove triple helix (catalytic triplex). The bulge and catalytic triplex jointly coordinate two divalent metal ions in a configuration that is consistent with a two–metal ion mechanism for catalysis. Structural and functional analogies support the hypothesis that group II introns and the spliceosome share a common ancestor.

1 Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 266 Whitney Avenue, Bass Building, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
2 Interdepartmental Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
3 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
4 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: anna.pyle{at}yale.edu (A.M.P.); navtej.toor{at}yale.edu (N.T.)

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A glimpse into the active site of a group II intron and maybe the spliceosome, too.
K. T. Dayie and R. A. Padgett (2008)
RNA 14, 1697-1703
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)