@article {375,
	title = {Putative proteins related to group II intron reverse transcriptase/maturases are encoded by nuclear genes in higher plants.},
	journal = {Nucleic Acids Res},
	volume = {31},
	number = {2},
	year = {2003},
	month = {2003 Jan 15},
	pages = {647-52},
	abstract = {The Arabidopsis thaliana nuclear genome sequence revealed several open reading frames encoding proteins related to group II intron-encoded reverse transcriptase/maturases. Here, we show via sequence alignments that at least four such open reading frames are conserved in the nuclear genomes of A.thaliana and Oryza sativa (rice) and that they encode putative proteins belonging to two different classes (nMat-1 and nMat-2), neither of which is associated with a group II intron RNA structure. The two nMat-1 proteins have reverse transcriptase, maturase and DNA endonuclease domains characteristic of canonical group II intron-encoded proteins, while the two nMat-2 proteins have reverse transcriptase and maturase domains linked to a novel C-terminal domain. Although some nMat proteins have mutations expected to inactivate intron mobility functions, all could potentially retain the RNA splicing function. These nuclear maturase-like proteins may be imported into organelles to function in group II intron splicing and/or they may have assumed other cellular functions. Nuclear-encoded maturases could regulate organellar gene expression and may reflect a step in the evolution of mobile group II introns into spliceosomal introns.},
	keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Arabidopsis, Cell Nucleus, Chromosome Mapping, Chromosomes, Plant, Endoribonucleases, Genome, Plant, Introns, Molecular Sequence Data, Nucleotidyltransferases, Open Reading Frames, Oryza sativa, Phylogeny, Plant Proteins, RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid},
	issn = {1362-4962},
	author = {Mohr, Georg and Lambowitz, Alan M}
}
