Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (16)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Feschotte, C.
Right arrow Articles by Mouchès, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Feschotte, C.
Right arrow Articles by Mouchès, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Molecular Biology and Evolution 18:74-84 (2001)
© 2001 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

ARTICLE

Birth of a Retroposon: The Twin SINE Family from the Vector Mosquito Culex pipiens May Have Originated from a Dimeric tRNA Precursor

Cédric Feschotte, Nicolas Fourrier, Isabelle Desmons and Claude Mouchès

Laboratoire Ecologie Moléculaire et Faculté Sciences et Techniques Côte-Basque, Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, Pau, France

SINEs are short interspersed repetitive elements found in many eukaryotic genomes and are believed to propagate by retroposition. Almost all SINEs reported to date have a composite structure made of a 5' tRNA-related region followed by a tRNA-unrelated region. Here, we describe a new type of tRNA-derived SINEs from the genome of the mosquito Culex pipiens. These elements, called Twins, are ~220 bp long and reiterated at approximately 500 copies per haploid genome. Twins have a unique structure compared with other tRNA-SINEs described so far. They consist of two tRNA-related regions separated by a 39-bp spacer. Other tRNA-unrelated sequences include a 5-bp leader preceding the left tRNA-like unit and a short trailer located downstream of the right tRNA-like region. This 3' trailer is a 10-bp sequence that is ended by a TTTT motif and followed by a polyA tract of variable length. The right tRNA-like unit also contains a 16-bp sequence which is absent in the left one and appears to be located in the ancestral anticodon stem precisely at a position expected for a nuclear tRNA intron. According to this singular structure, we hypothesize that the Twin SINE family originated from an unprocessed polymerase III transcript containing two tRNA sequences. We suggest that some peculiar properties acquired by this dicistronic transcript, such as a polyA tail and a 3' stem-loop secondary structure, promote its retroposition by increasing its chances of being recognized by a reverse transcriptase encoded elsewhere in the C. pipiens genome.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Syst BiolHome page
J.-M. Deragon and X. Zhang
Short Interspersed Elements (SINEs) in Plants: Origin, Classification, and Use as Phylogenetic Markers
Syst Biol, December 1, 2006; 55(6): 949 - 956.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
G. Churakov, A. F.A. Smit, J. Brosius, and J. Schmitz
A Novel Abundant Family of Retroposed Elements (DAS-SINEs) in the Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)
Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2005; 22(4): 886 - 893.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
Z. Tu, S. Li, and C. Mao
The Changing Tails of a Novel Short Interspersed Element in Aedes aegypti: Genomic Evidence for Slippage Retrotransposition and the Relationship Between 3' Tandem Repeats and the poly(dA) Tail
Genetics, December 1, 2004; 168(4): 2037 - 2047.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
T. Pelissier, C. Bousquet-Antonelli, L. Lavie, and J.-M. Deragon
Synthesis and processing of tRNA-related SINE transcripts in Arabidopsis thaliana
Nucleic Acids Res., July 28, 2004; 32(13): 3957 - 3966.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
O. Piskurek, M. Nikaido, Boeadi, M. Baba, and N. Okada
Unique Mammalian tRNA-Derived Repetitive Elements in Dermopterans: The t-SINE Family and Its Retrotransposition Through Multiple Sources
Mol. Biol. Evol., October 1, 2003; 20(10): 1659 - 1668.
[Abstract] [Full Text]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.