@article {447,
	title = {A novel reverse transcriptase activity associated with mitochondrial plasmids of Neurospora.},
	journal = {Cell},
	volume = {55},
	number = {4},
	year = {1988},
	month = {1988 Nov 18},
	pages = {693-704},
	abstract = {The Mauriceville and Varkud mitochondrial plasmids of Neurospora are closely related DNA elements whose nucleotide sequences and genetic organization suggest relationships to retrotransposons and mitochondrial introns. Both plasmids potentially encode a reverse transcriptase-like protein of 710 amino acids. We show that mitochondria from the Mauriceville and Varkud strains contain a reverse transcriptase activity highly specific for endogeneous plasmid RNA in RNP preparations. The reverse transcriptase synthesizes full-length minus-strand DNA beginning at the 3{\textquoteright} end of the plasmid transcript, which has tRNA-like characteristics similar to the 3{\textquoteright} ends of plant viral RNAs. Our results suggest that the plasmids use a novel mechanism of reverse transcription, which may have evolved to utilize tRNA-like structures at the 3{\textquoteright} ends of self-replicating RNAs. This mechanism may be ancestral to the standard retroviral mechanism.},
	keywords = {DNA Transposable Elements, DNA, Mitochondrial, Endonucleases, Introns, Kinetics, Neurospora, Nucleic Acid Conformation, Plasmids, RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase, Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases},
	issn = {0092-8674},
	author = {Kuiper, M T and Lambowitz, A M}
}
