Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 11 September 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5946, pp. 1391 - 1394
DOI: 10.1126/science.1175688
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Tuned for Transposition: Molecular Determinants Underlying the Hyperactivity of a Stowaway MITE

Guojun Yang,1,2,3 Dawn Holligan Nagel,1 Cédric Feschotte,4 C. Nathan Hancock,1 Susan R. Wessler1,*

Miniature inverted repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are widespread in eukaryotic genomes, where they can attain high copy numbers despite a lack of coding capacity. However, little is known about how they originate and amplify. We performed a genome-wide screen of functional interactions between Stowaway MITEs and potential transposases in the rice genome and identified a transpositionally active MITE that possesses key properties that enhance transposition. Although not directly related to its autonomous element, the MITE has less affinity for the transposase than does the autonomous element but lacks a motif repressing transposition in the autonomous element. The MITE contains internal sequences that enhance transposition. These findings suggest that MITEs achieve high transposition activity by scavenging transposases encoded by distantly related and self-restrained autonomous elements.

1 Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
2 Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.
3 Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada.
4 Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sue{at}plantbio.uga.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
MITEs--The Ultimate Parasites.
J. Gonzalez and D. Petrov (2009)
Science 325, 1352-1353
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)