title: Cloning and characterization of piggyBac-like elements in lepidopteran insects.
abstract: PiggyBac-like elements (PLE) are widespread in variety of organisms, however, few of them are active or have an intact transposon structure. To further define the distribution PLEs in Lepidoptera, where the original active piggyBac IFP2 was discovered, and potentially isolate new functional elements, a survey for PLEs by PCR amplification and Southern dot blots was performed. Two new PLEs, AyPLE and AaPLE, were successfully isolated from the noctuid species, Agrotis ypsilon and Argyrogramma agnate, respectively. These elements were found to be closely related to each other by sequence similarity, and by sharing the same 16 bp inverted terminal repeat sequences. The AyPLE1.1 and AaPLE1.1 elements are structurally intact having characteristic TTAA target site duplications, inverted terminal repeats and intact open reading frames encoding putative transposases with the presumed piggyBac DDD domains, which are features consistent with autonomous functional transposons. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that AyPLE1.1 and AaPLE1.1 cluster with another noctuid species element, HaPLE1.1, suggesting a common ancestor for the three types of PLEs. This contributes to our understanding of the distribution and evolution of piggyBac in Lepidoptera.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Monitoring and Management of Plant Disease and Insects, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhichan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Guanghua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Chunlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhaojun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D019895:Transposases / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D019895:Transposases