FIGURE 3.

Sex factor conjugation efficiency of the Ll.LtrB S8ΔORF variants. Nucleotides modified to abolish base-pairing interactions in S8 and in the cis-splicing intron are shown on the left (gray box). Schematics of the different cis- and trans-splicing intron variants are illustrated at the top showing the modified RNA strand (gray line). The sequential base pair restorations toward the central wheel (tcw) or from the central wheel (fcw) are identified as gray and black lines while dotted lines depict unpaired residues. The S8 fragmentation site is represented by an arrowhead. Conjugation efficiencies are from three independent assays (Supplemental Table S2).