The RNA transport element RTE is essential for IAP LTR-retrotransposon mobility.
We previously identified an RNA transport element (RTE) present at a high copy number in the mouse genome. Here, we show that a related element, RTE-D, is part of a mobile LTR-retrotransposon, which belongs to a family of intracisternal A-particle related elements (IAP). We demonstrate that RTE-D is essential for the mobility of the retrotransposon and it can be substituted by other known RNA export signals. RTE-deficient IAP transcripts are retained in the nucleus, while the RTE-containing transcripts accumulate in the cytoplasm allowing Gag protein expression. RTE-D acts as a posttranscriptional control element in a heterologous reporter mRNA and is activated by the cellular RNA binding protein 15 (RBM15), as reported for the previously described RTE. We identified a complex family of RTE-containing IAPs in mouse and mapped the active RTE-D-containing IAPs to the Mmr10 group of LTR-retrotransposons. These data reveal that, despite a complex evolutionary history, retroelements and retroviruses share the dependency on posttranscriptional regulation.
Zolotukhin
Andrei S
AS
Human Retrovirus Pathogenesis Section, Vaccine Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21702-1201, USA.
Schneider
Ralf
R
Uranishi
Hiroaki
H
Bear
Jenifer
J
Tretyakova
Irina
I
Michalowski
Daniel
D
Smulevitch
Sergey
S
O'Keeffe
Sean
S
Pavlakis
George N
GN
Felber
Barbara K
BK
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015870:Gene Expression; D007426:Genes, Intracisternal A-Particle; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D034443:RNA Transport / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D014162:Transfection
D012333:RNA, Messenger