Evidence for retrotransposition of the I factor, a LINE element of Drosophila melanogaster

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 88; no. 11; pp. 4907 - 4910
• Main Authors: Pelisson, A. (The Johns Hopkins University, Balitmore, MD), Finnegan, D.J, Bucheton, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 01.06.1991; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Chromosomes; CODE GENETIQUE; CODIGO GENETICO; Crosses, Genetic; DNA; DNA Transposable Elements; DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER; Drosophila melanogaster - embryology; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Embryo, Nonmammalian - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GENE; GENES; Genetic transposition; Genic rearrangement. Recombination. Transposable element; Genomics; Genotype; Genotypes; Gonadal Dysgenesis; Introns; Larva; Male; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; NUCLEOTIDE; NUCLEOTIDOS; PEPTIDE; PEPTIDOS; Plasmids; Polymerase chain reaction; RNA Splicing; Sex chromosomes; TRANSCRIPTASA INVERSA; TRANSCRIPTASE INVERSE; Transposons; X chromosome; Insecta; Transposon; Reverse reaction; Transgenic animal; Molecular integration; Transposable element; Drosophilidae; Transposition; Intron; Investigation method; Arthropoda; Invertebrata; Drosophila melanogaster; Diptera
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.88.11.4907

LINEs are transposable elements found in various eukaryotes such as plants, protists, insects, and mammals. Their transposition is usually difficult to study, particularly in humans, where some diseases have been shown to result from LINE insertion mutations. This is due to the fact that most copies of any particular family of elements are defective and that their transposition frequency is low. By contrast, the I factor of Drosophila melanogaster transposes at high frequency during I-R hybrid dysgenesis and is a good model for studying the LINE element superfamily. LINEs encode putative polypeptides showing similarities with viral reverse transcriptases but, unlike viral retrotransposons, they do not have terminal repeats and their ability to transpose by reverse transcription has previously only been inferred from structural analysis. Here we present direct evidence for LINE retrotransposition. Transposition of an I factor marked by an intron resulted in accurate removal of the intron.