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Demonstration of retrotransposition of the Tf1 element in fission yeast.
Author(s) -
Levin H.L.,
Boeke J.D.
Publication year - 1992
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.1460-2075.1992.tb05155.x
Subject(s) - biology , retrotransposon , fission , yeast , genetics , schizosaccharomyces , element (criminal law) , computational biology , saccharomyces cerevisiae , schizosaccharomyces pombe , transposable element , genome , gene , physics , nuclear physics , neutron , law , political science
Tf1, a retrotransposon from fission yeast, has LTRs and coding sequences resembling the protease, reverse transcriptase and integrase domains of retroviral pol genes. A unique aspect of Tf1 is that it contains a single open reading frame whereas other retroviruses and retrotransposons usually possess two or more open reading frames. To determine whether Tf1 can transpose, we overproduced Tf1 transcripts encoded by a plasmid copy of the element marked with a neo gene. Approximately 0.1–4.0% of the cell population acquired chromosomally inherited resistance to G418. DNA blot analysis demonstrated that such strains had acquired both Tf1 and neo specific sequences within a restriction fragment of the same size; the size of this restriction fragment varied between different isolates. Structural analysis of the cloned DNA flanking the Tf1‐neo element of two transposition candidates with the same regions in the parent strain showed that the ability to grow on G418 was due to transposition of Tf1‐neo and not other types of recombination events.