title: Retroelements containing introns in diverse invertebrate taxa.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Irina R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Arkhipova
authors.forename: Konstantin I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Pyatkov
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meselson
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Evgen'ev
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D018626:Retroelements; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase