Mobile group II intron targeting: applications in prokaryotes and perspectives in eukaryotes.

Mobile group II introns are ribozymes and use a novel mechanism--target DNA-primed reverse transcription--to proliferate in DNA. Group II introns are a unique mobile element for their high sequence-specific, yet readily flexible target site recognition. Both the intron RNA and the intron-encoded protein (IEP) are involved in target site recognition, and the specificity is determined primarily by base pairing between the intron RNA and DNA target. Therefore, the intron RNA can be modified according to the desired target sequence for specific gene disruption. Group II intron knockout technology is mature in bacteria and is currently being developed in eukaryotes. This technology has great potential to revolutionize fields such as functional genomics, gene therapy, and cell line engineering.