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Plant transposable elements generate the DNA sequence diversity needed in evolution
Author(s) -
SchwarzSommer Zsuzsanna,
Gierl Alfons,
Cuypers Heinrich,
Peterson Peter A.,
Saedler Heinz
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03671.x
Subject(s) - planck , physics , biology , quantum mechanics
Two germinal and 16 somatic reversion events induced by the Enhancer (En) transposable element system at the wx‐8 ::Spm‐I8 allele of Zea mays were cloned and studied by sequence analysis. Excision of the Spm‐I8 receptor element from the wx gene results in various mutant DNA sequences. This leads to altered gene products, some of which are still capable of restoring the wild‐type phenotype. Possible ‘footprint’ sequences that may have arisen by the excision of transposable elements were observed when intron sequences of the wild‐type ( wx + ) and the mutant ( wx‐m8 ) alleles of the wx gene were compared. The sequence divergence generated by visitation of a locus by plant transposable elements is discussed with respect to the molecular evolution of new gene functions.