Analysis of the Chloroplast Large Subunit Ribosomal RNA Gene from 17 Chlamydomonas Taxa : Three Internal Transcribed Spacers and 12 Group I Intron Insertion Sites

Previous reports on the chloroplast large subunit rRNA genes of the two distantly related green algae Chlamydomonas eugametos and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii indicate differences in the distribution of group I introns and suggest a different arrangement of internal transcribed spacers. To provide insights into the origin of these two types of intervening sequences, we have undertaken the sequencing of the chloroplast rrnL genes of 15 additional Chlamydomonas taxa and have characterized the mature large subunit rRNA species they encode in addition to those specified by the C. reinhardtii rrnL. These analyses disclosed the presence of three internal transcribed spacers sharing the same positions in all of the 17 taxa as well as the presence of a total of 39 group I introns representing 12 insertion sites. Of these insertion sites, only one has been identified in non- Chlamydomonas taxa. The distribution of Chlamydomonas introns is highly variable and, in many respects, is not consistent with the phylogeny deduced from chloroplast rRNA sequence comparisons. This phylogeny features two main lineages of Chlamydomonas taxa forming sister groups. Because earlier branching organisms in the green algal/land plant lineage display no chloroplast rDNA introns, it appears that all of the intron insertion positions in Chlamydomonas are of recent origins, with some of the positions having arisen subsequent to the divergence of the two main Chlamydomonas lineages. Remarkably, the rRNA regions corresponding to most of the group I intron insertion positions in rRNA genes have been assigned functional roles suggesting that they lie in exposed regions of the ribosome. On the basis of this striking correlation between exposed rRNA regions and intron insertion sites, we speculate that the reversal of the self-splicing reaction has played a major role in the creation of the multiple intron insertion positions found in rRNA genes as well as in the proliferation of group I introns elsewhere in the Chlamydomonas chloroplast genome.