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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2002, p. 6392-6398, Vol. 68, No. 12
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.12.6392-6398.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacterial Group II Introns in a Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Environment{dagger}

Mircea Podar,1,2* Lauren Mullineaux,1 Hon-Ren Huang,3 Philip S. Perlman,3 and Mitchell L. Sogin2

Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,1 Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543,2 Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas 75390-91483

Received 22 July 2002/ Accepted 25 September 2002

Group II introns are catalytic RNAs and mobile retrotransposable elements known to be present in the genomes of some nonmarine bacteria and eukaryotic organelles. Here we report the discovery of group II introns in a bacterial mat sample collected from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent near 9°N on the East Pacific Rise. One of the introns was shown to self-splice in vitro. This is the first example of marine bacterial introns from molecular population structure studies of microorganisms that live in the proximity of hydrothermal vents. These types of mobile genetic elements may prove useful in improving our understanding of bacterial genome evolution and may serve as valuable markers in comparative studies of bacterial communities.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Diversa Corporation, 4955 Directors Pl., San Diego, CA 92121. Phone: (858) 526-5305. Fax: (858) 526-5308. E-mail: mpodar{at}diversa.com.

Contribution 10836 from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2002, p. 6392-6398, Vol. 68, No. 12
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.12.6392-6398.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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