Transcription and excision of a large intron in the tRNATrp gene of an archaebacterium, Halobacterium volcanii.

The archaebacterium Halobacterium volcanii contains a single expressed gene for tRNATrp. This gene is interrupted, at a position corresponding to two nucleotides 3' to the anticodon, by an 105-base pair intervening sequence. Northern hybridization experiments show that the gene is transcribed in its entirety in vivo into a precursor of at least 180 nucleotides, and that one of the products of post-transcriptional processing is a 105-nucleotide species containing intron-specific sequences.