InterPro domain: IPR002866

Group II introns are widespread in plant cell organelles [ 1 ]. In vivo, most plant group II introns do not self-splice, but require the assistance of proteinaceous splicing factors, known as maturases. In higher plants, maturases are encoded for in the nuclear genes [ 2 ], but are otherwise encoded by organellar introns.

This entry represents maturase K, which is usually encoded in the trnK tRNA gene intron, and probably assists in splicing its own and other chloroplast group II introns.

1. Evolutionary origin of a plant mitochondrial group II intron from a reverse transcriptase/maturase-encoding ancestor. J. Plant Res. 119, 363-71
2. Putative proteins related to group II intron reverse transcriptase/maturases are encoded by nuclear genes in higher plants. Nucleic Acids Res. 31, 647-52