Splicing defective mutants of theCOXIgene of yeast mitochondrial DNA: initial definition of the maturase domain of the group II intron AI2

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Six mutations blocking the function of a seven intron form of the mitochondrial gene encoding subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase (COXI) and mapping upstream of exon 3 were isolated and characterized. A cis-dominant mutant of the group IIA intron 1 defines a helical portion of the C1 substructure of domain 1 as essential for splicing. A trans-recessive mutant confirms that the intron 1 reading frame encodes a maturase function. A cis-dominant mutant in exon 2 was found to have no effect on the splicing of intron 1 or 2. A trans-recessive mutant, located in the group IIA intron 2, demonstrates for the first time that intron 2 encodes a maturase. A genetic dissection of the five missense mutations present in the intron 2 reading frame of that strain demonstrates that the maturase defect results from one or both of the missense mutations in a newly-recognized conserved sequence called domain X.