Final answer:
Group II autocatalytic and mRNA introns are similar in that both are self-splicing, forming complex structures and splicing themselves without additional proteins or spliceosomes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Group II autocatalytic and mRNA introns are similar because both are self-splicing. These introns can form complex stem-loop tertiary structures and splice themselves without the need for spliceosomes or additional proteins, at least in vitro. However, unlike Group I introns that require a guanine nucleotide cofactor, Group II introns do not require any external cofactors; they utilize an intramolecular reaction involving an adenylate residue to form a lariat structure during splicing.