Multiple self-splicing introns in bacteriophage T4: evidence from autocatalytic GTP labeling of RNA in vitro.

RNA from T4-infected cells yielded multiple end-labeled species when incubated with alpha-32P-GTP under self-splicing conditions. One of these corresponds to the previously identified intron from the td gene of T4, while others appear to represent additional group I introns in T4. Two loci distinct from the td gene were found to hybridize to a mixed alpha-32P-GTP-labeled T4 RNA probe. These mapped in or near the unlinked genes nrdB and nrdC. A fragment from the nrdB region that contains the intron has been cloned and shown to generate characteristic group I splice products with RNA synthesized in vivo and in vitro. Multiple introns, and the prospect that these occur within several genes in the same metabolic pathway, suggest a possible regulatory role for splicing in T4.