Intein splicing efficiency and RadA levels can control the mode of archaeal DNA replication

Inteins (intervening proteins), mobile genetic elements removed through protein splicing, often interrupt proteins required for DNA replication, recombination, and repair. An abundance of in vitro evidence implies that inteins may act as regulatory elements, whereby reduced splicing inhibits production of the mature protein lacking the intein, but in vivo evidence of regulatory intein excision in the native host is absent. The model archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis encodes 15 inteins, and we establish the impacts of intein splicing inhibition on host physiology and replication in vivo. We report that a decrease in intein splicing efficiency of the recombinase RadA, a Rad51/RecA homolog, has widespread physiological consequences, including a general growth defect, increased sensitivity to DNA damage, and a switch in the mode of DNA replication from recombination-dependent replication toward origin-dependent replication.