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Retrotransposition of the vertical bar factor, a non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon of Drosophila, generates tandem repeats at the 3' end

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Item Type:Article
Title:Retrotransposition of the vertical bar factor, a non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon of Drosophila, generates tandem repeats at the 3' end
Creators Name:Chaboissier, M.C., Finnegan, D. and Bucheton, A.
Abstract:Non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons or LINEs transpose by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate and are thought to use the 3' hydroxyl of a chromosomal cleavage to initiate synthesis of the first strand of the cDNA. Many of them terminate in a poly(dA) sequence at the 3' end of the coding strand although some, like the I factor of Drosophila melanogaster, have 3' ends formed by repeats of the trinucleotide TAA. We report results showing that I factor transcripts end a few nucleotides downstream of the TAA repeats and that these extra nucleotides are not integrated into chromosomal DNA during retrotransposition. We also show that the TAA repeats are not required for transposition and that I elements containing mutations affecting the TAA sequences generate transposed copies ending with tandem repeats of various types. Our results suggest that during integration the 3' end of the I factor RNA template can pair with nucleotides at the target site and that tandem duplications are generated by the reverse transcriptase of the I factor in a manner that is reminiscent of the activity of the reverse transcriptases of telomerases. Reverse transcriptases of other non-LTR retrotransposons may function in a similar way.
Keywords:Base Sequence, Drosophila Melanogaster, Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements, Genetic ModelsInsertional Mutagenesis, Messenger RNA, RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase, Nucleic Acid Regulatory Sequences, Retroelements, Tandem Repeat Sequences, Terminal Repeat Sequences, Animals
Source:Nucleic Acids Research
ISSN:0305-1048
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Volume:28
Number:13
Page Range:2467-2472
Date:1 July 2000
Official Publication:http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/13/2467
PubMed:View item in PubMed

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