The anticodon of the maize chloroplast gene for tRNA Leu UAA is split by a large intron

The maize chloroplast gene encoding tRNA Leu UAA has been sequenced. It contains a 458 base pair intron between the first and second bases of the anticodon. The tRNA is 88 nucleotides long (the 3'-terminal CCA sequence included which, however, is not encoded by the gene) and differs in only four nucleotides (modified nucleotides are not considered) from the corresponding isoacceptor from bean chloroplasts. The unusual position of the intron in this maize chloroplast tRNA gene suggests a splicing model different from that generally accepted for eukaryotic split tRNA genes.