Reverse transcriptase

[Rod Pennington]

ED at molbiol.uct.ac.za ("Ed Rybicki") writes:
>> From:          Franck Brunel <brunelf at rockvax.rockefeller.edu>
>> You are correct, it would be ridiculous for the cell to have reverse
>> transcriptase around-
>
>Really?  Funny, that - E coli strains and a number of other related
>bacteria (as well as some Archaea) have reverse transcriptases as
>part of VERY strange little retrotranspoable elements.  And
>retroposons, etc - which are not very retrovirus-like - also have
>reverse transcriptases.
 
 
 
I would add that I remember reading a paper some years back
regarding a possible reverse transcriptase gene in the
mitochondrial DNA of some plant species.  Over time, alot of
genetic information has been exchanged between organelles
and the nucleus and it was (if I remember correctly)
speculated that a mitochondrial RT could play a role in
transfer of transcribed nuclear (or chloroplast) sequences
to the mitochondrial genome.
 
This was some years ago.  I am not sure what the status of these
speculations is now.
 
 
 
Rod Pennington
Plant Pathology
University of Kentucky (till June 6th)