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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Inducible T7 RNA Polymerase-mediated Multigene Expression System, pMGX
Published on: June 27, 2017
A self-splicing group I intron in DNA polymerase genes of T7-like bacteriophages
Richard P Bonocora1, David A Shub
1Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY 12222, USA.
Abstract:
Group I introns are inserted into genes of a wide variety of bacteriophages of gram-positive bacteria. However, among the phages of enteric and other gram-negative proteobacteria, introns have been encountered only in phage T4 and several of its close relatives. Here we report the insertion of a self-splicing group I intron in the coding sequence of the DNA polymerase genes of PhiI and W31, phages that are closely related to T7. The introns belong to subgroup IA2 and both contain an open reading frame, inserted into structural element P6a, encoding a protein belonging to the HNH family of homing endonucleases. The introns splice efficiently in vivo and self-splice in vitro under mild conditions of ionic strength and temperature. We conclude that there is no barrier for maintenance of group I introns in phages of proteobacteria.
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