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Patterns of Group I Intron Presence in Nuclear SSU rDNA of the Lichen Family Parmeliaceae

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Abstract

Group I introns are commonly reported within nuclear SSU ribosomal DNA of eukaryotic micro-organisms, especially in lichen-forming fungi. We have studied the primary and secondary structure of 70 new nuclear SSU rDNA group I introns of Parmeliaceae (Ascomycota: Lecanorales) and compared them with those available in databases, covering more than 60 species. The analyzed samples of Parmeliaceae fell into two groups, one having an intron at the 1506 site and another lacking this one but having another at the 1516 or 1521 position. Introns at the 1521 position seem to be transposed from 1516 sites. Introns at the 1516 position were similar in structure to ones previously reported at this site and known from other lecanoralean fungi, while those at the 1506 position showed structural differences and no similar introns are known from related fungi. The study of the distribution of group I introns within a large monophyletic ensemble of fungi has revealed an unexpected correlation between intron types and ecological and geographical parameters. The introns at the 1516 position occurred in mainly arctic, boreal, and temperate lichens, while those at position 1506 were present in mainly tropical and subtropical to oceanic mild-temperate taxa. Further, the 1516 introns occurred in genera with few distributed species that could represent older taxa, while the 1506 ones were mainly in species-rich genera that could be of recent speciation, as many species have wide distribution areas. The transition between two different environments has been accompanied by a change in introns gained and lost.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain (CGL 2004-01848/BOS, CGL 2004-20423-E). G.G. acknowledges the support of the Programa Ramón y Cajal of the same ministry. Sequencing was carried out at the Unidad de Genómica (Parque Científico de Madrid). We are indebted to Dra. M. C. Molina and A. Argüello, who supplied some additional DNA sequences for this research. We also thank Prof. D. L. Hawksworth and Dr. A. Marín for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Gabriel Gutiérrez

    Present address: Departmento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, Apartado 1095, Sevilla, 41080, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain

    Gabriel Gutiérrez

  2. Departamento de Biología Vegetal II, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Oscar Blanco, Pradeep K. Divakar & Ana Crespo

  3. Departament of Botany, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    H. Thorsten Lumbsch

  4. Departmento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

    Gabriel Gutiérrez

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  1. Gabriel Gutiérrez
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Correspondence to Gabriel Gutiérrez.

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Gutiérrez, G., Blanco, O., Divakar, P.K. et al. Patterns of Group I Intron Presence in Nuclear SSU rDNA of the Lichen Family Parmeliaceae. J Mol Evol 64, 181–195 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-005-0313-y

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