title: [Copia-like retrotransposon in Amaranthus].
abstract: This study analyzed the characteristics of reverse transcriptase sequences of copia-like retrotransposons in Amaranthus via PCR amplification and sequence approaches. The results are as follows: (1) The reverse transcriptase sequences of copia-like retrotransposons were detected in all 30 Amaranthus accessions studied, indicating that this class of retrotransposons is ubiquitous in Amaranthus; (2) Twenty-eight reverse transcriptases in A. quitensis were cloned and sequenced, showing extensive heterogeneity in base deletion mutation and stop codon mutation; (3) Cluster and alignment analyses of the 28 sequences and other published sequences of the reverse transcriptase from other species (such as rice, tomato and Drosophila) showed that the copia-like retrotransposons in A. quitensis have a close relationship with those in dicot and monocot plants. The evolution of copia-like retrotransposons in A. tricolor, which might be of the same origin as the copia and 1731 in Drosophila, was discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, China. yqhe@mail.hzau.edu.cn
authors.forename: Yu-Qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ying-Guo
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Li-Da
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D027721:Amaranthus / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics; D018626:Retroelements / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D018626:Retroelements; D004247:DNA; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase