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Rte‐1, a retrotransposon‐like element in Caenorhabditis elegans
Author(s) -
Youngman Sandra,
van Luenen Henri G.A.M.,
Plasterk Ronald H.A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(95)01525-6
Subject(s) - retrotransposon , biology , caenorhabditis elegans , genome , genetics , open reading frame , gene , mobile genetic elements , homology (biology) , reverse transcriptase , direct repeat , coding region , transposable element , peptide sequence , polymerase chain reaction
We have characterized a retrotransposon‐like element (Rte‐1) in C. elegans . It was identified while we were sequencing the pim related kinase‐1 ( prk‐1 ) gene. The element is 3,298 bp long and flanked by a 200 bp direct repeat. 95 bp of the direct repeat are present in the coding region of prk‐1 . Rte‐1 contains an open reading frame, in the opposite orientation of prk‐1 , potentially encoding 625 amino acids, with similarity to reverse transcriptases. The element is most similar to members of the non‐LTR group of retrotransposable elements. There is weak homology of the predicted amino acid sequence of Rte‐1 to several reverse transcriptase‐like genes identified by the C. elegans genome sequencing consortium, suggesting that there may be a large family of these elements. Southern blots indicate that there are approximately 10–15 additional Rte‐1 elements in the C. elegans Bristol N2 genome and a similar number is found in the genomes of two other geographically distinct strains. The insertion pattern of Rte‐1 is polymorphic between these strains.