The Mitochondrial LSU rRNA Group II Intron of Ustilago maydis Encodes an Active Homing Endonuclease Likely Involved in Intron Mobility

Abstract

The present data provide strong evidence that intron homing efficiently operates under conditions of biparental inheritance in U. maydis. Conversely, uniparental inheritance may be critical to restrict the transmission of mobile introns. Bioinformatic analyses suggest that I-UmaI-associated introns have been acquired independently in distant taxa and are more widespread than anticipated from available genomic data.