For over 100 years, endosymbiotic theories have figured in thoughts about the differences
between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. More than 20 different versions of endosymbiotic …

Group II introns are mobile ribozymes that self-splice from precursor RNAs to yield excised
intron lariat RNAs, which then invade new genomic DNA sites by reverse splicing. The …

The microbiota plays a fundamental role in regulating host immunity. However, the
processes involved in the initiation and regulation of immunity to the microbiota remain …

Cyclic di-and linear oligo-nucleotide signals activate defenses against invasive nucleic
acids in animal immunity; however, their evolutionary antecedents are poorly understood …

Progress in exploiting clostridial genome information has been severely impeded by a
general lack of effective methods for the directed inactivation of specific genes. Those few …

Homing endonucleases are encoded by open reading frames that are embedded within
group I, group II and archael introns, as well as inteins (intervening sequences that are …

Homing endonucleases confer mobility to their host intervening sequence, either an intron
or intein, by catalyzing a highly specific double-strand break in a cognate allele lacking the …

▪ Abstract Mobile group II introns, found in bacterial and organellar genomes, are both
catalytic RNAs and retrotransposable elements. They use an extraordinary mobility …

Mycobacterium tuberculosis forms drug-tolerant persister cells that are the probable cause
of its recalcitrance to antibiotic therapy. While genetically identical to the rest of the …

Host-pathogen interactions are often driven by mechanisms that promote genetic variability.
We have identified a group of temperate bacteriophages that generate diversity in a gene …