Open AccessThe L1 family (Kpnl family) sequence near the 3' end of human β-globin gene may have been derived from an active L1 sequence
Author(s) -
Atsushi Fujita,
Masahira Hattori,
Osamu Takenaka,
Yoshiyuki Sakaki
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/15.10.4007
Subject(s) - biology , alu element , genetics , globin , sequence (biology) , gene , mutation , pseudogene , gene family , gene duplication , peptide sequence , sequence alignment , human genome , genome
We previously reported that some L1 family (KpnI family) members are closely associated with the Alu family sequence. To understand the details of the L1-Alu association, the structure of a L1-Alu unit downstream from the beta-globin gene was compared between human and primates. The results revealed that the L1-Alu-associated sequence was formed by the insertion of the L1 sequence, T beta G41, into the 3' poly A tract of the preexisting Alu family sequence. It was estimated that the T beta G41 sequence was inserted after the divergence of Old World monkeys and hominoids and before the divergence of orang-utan and common ancestor of other higher hominoids. From the calculation of the mutation rates of L1 sequences, it was suggested that the T beta G41 was derived from an active L1 sequence which was able to encode reverse transcriptase-related protein.