title: Easel, a gypsy LTR-retrotransposon in the Salmonidae.
abstract: Despite the close similarities between retroviruses and the gypsy/Ty3 group of LTR-retrotransposons their host ranges are largely distinct: the retroviruses are found only in vertebrates, whereas the gypsy LTR-retrotransposons are almost exclusively restricted to invertebrates, plants and fungi. Here we report the amplification by PCR, and characterisation, of one of the first LTR-retrotransposons to be discovered in vertebrates--in several members of the piscine family Salmonidae. Phylogenetic analysis of this retroelement, termed easel, indicates that it is probably a phylogeneticaly basal member of the gypsy group of LTR-retrotransposons and occurs in some of the same species from which retroviruses have previously been isolated. Thus some members of the Salmonidae are the first organisms known to harbour both retroviral branch elements and the gypsy LTR-retrotransposon branch elements. This creates an overlap in the host ranges of the two retroelement families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Imperial College, Ascot, Berkshire, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tristem
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kabat
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herniou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karpas
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D017931:DNA Primers; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000737:chemistry; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D018626:Retroelements; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D012487:Salmonidae / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018626:Retroelements; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase