Retroelements containing introns in diverse invertebrate taxa.
We report that two structurally similar transposable elements containing reverse transcriptase (RT), Penelope in Drosophila virilis and Athena in bdelloid rotifers, have proliferated as copies containing introns. The ability of Penelope-like elements (PLEs) to retain introns, their separate phylogenetic placement and their peculiar structural features make them a novel class of eukaryotic retroelements.
Arkhipova
Irina R
IR
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Pyatkov
Konstantin I
KI
Meselson
Matthew
M
Evgen'ev
Michael B
MB
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004330:Drosophila / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D018626:Retroelements / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*
D018626:Retroelements; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase