Biopolym. Cell. 1991; 7(1):30-37.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7124/bc.0002AE
Contextual analysis of linear plasmid-like DNA of maize mitochondria: homology with virus sequences
1Konstantinov Yu. M., 1Derenko M. V., 1Rogozin I. B.
  1. Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
    Irkutsk, USSR
  2. Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
    Novosibirsk, USSR

Abstract

Contextual analysis and data bank of the nucleotide sequences has revealed that the linear Sl and S2 plasmid-like maize mitochondrial DNA include homology with sequences of five different eukaryotic viruses (avian retrovirus, phleobovirus, influenza virus, virus of hepatitis, SV40). The homologous regions are found to contain short oligonucleotide sites characteristic of DNA regions with active site-specific recombination processes. The length of regions with homology varies from 60 to 130 base pairs. As based on the results obtained it is assumed as possible to transfer foreign genetic information to the mitochondrial genome of plants using reverse transtription mechanism.
Full text: (PDF, in Russian)

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