title: Excision of the piggyBac transposable element in vitro is a precise event that is enhanced by the expression of its encoded transposase.
abstract: The piggyBac Lepidopteran transposable element moves from the cellular genome into infecting baculovirus genomes during passage of the virus in cultured TN-368 cells. We have constructed genetically tagged piggyBac elements that permit analysis of excision when transiently introduced on plasmids into the piggyBac-deficient Spodoptera frugiperda IPLB-SF21AE cell line. Precise excision of the element from these plasmids occurs at a higher frequency in the presence of a helper plasmid that presumably supplies the piggyBac transposase. The results suggest that the piggyBac transposon encodes a protein that functions to facilitate not only insertion, but precise excision as well. This is the first demonstration of piggyBac mobility from plasmid sources in uninfected Lepidopteran cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Elick
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bauser
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000235:genetics; D016153:Genes, Suppressor / Q000235:genetics; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D018411:Spodoptera / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection; D019895:Transposases
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004247:DNA; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases; D019895:Transposases