GroupⅠintrons and groupⅡintrons are two abundant kinds of self-splicing introns.

As the first RNA catalyst (ribozyme) discovered in nature twenty years ago, group Ⅰ intron has been extensively studied to understand catalysis, structure and folding of the catalytic RNA, which fundamentally contributes to the current understanding of RNA structure and function.

Group Ⅰ introns are a class of catalytic RNAs, which are capable of catalyzing their own excision from the precursor RNAs by a two-step phosphodiester transfer reaction.

Objective To verify the self-splicing function of the group Ⅰ introns ribozymes from Tetrahymena thermophilia and the site-specific mutagenesis ribozymes.