Organisms Commons^™

Site Tolerance Of The Rada Intein, Chase Taul, Christopher Lennon Dr

Honors College Theses

Inteins (intervening proteins) invade genes at the DNA level and splice out at the protein level. Once thought of as only a parasitic type of a mobile genetic element, recent work suggests a mutualistic relationship has formed in some cases within bacterial and archaeal hosts. After translation, a precursor protein is formed with the intein between two exteins. The intein is catalytic and can excise itself out through protein splicing. Intein insertion is biased towards the active site of the protein and is thought to cause inactivation of the host protein prior to splicing. Intein splicing is responsive to a …