MCB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wei, W.
Right arrow Articles by Moran, J. V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wei, W.
Right arrow Articles by Moran, J. V.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2001, p. 1429-1439, Vol. 21, No. 4
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.4.1429-1439.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Human L1 Retrotransposition: cis Preference versus trans Complementation

Wei Wei,1 Nicolas Gilbert,1 Siew Loon Ooi,2 Joseph F. Lawler,2 Eric M. Ostertag,3 Haig H. Kazazian,3 Jef D. Boeke,2 and John V. Moran1,*

Departments of Human Genetics and Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 481091; Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 212052; and Department of Genetics, The University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 191043

Received 21 August 2000/Returned for modification 18 October 2000/Accepted 6 November 2000

Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs or L1s) comprise approximately 17% of human DNA; however, only about 60 of the ~400,000 L1s are mobile. Using a retrotransposition assay in cultured human cells, we demonstrate that L1-encoded proteins predominantly mobilize the RNA that encodes them. At much lower levels, L1-encoded proteins can act in trans to promote retrotransposition of mutant L1s and other cellular mRNAs, creating processed pseudogenes. Mutant L1 RNAs are mobilized at 0.2 to 0.9% of the retrotransposition frequency of wild-type L1s, whereas cellular RNAs are mobilized at much lower frequencies (ca. 0.01 to 0.05% of wild-type levels). Thus, we conclude that L1-encoded proteins demonstrate a profound cis preference for their encoding RNA. This mechanism could enable L1 to remain retrotransposition competent in the presence of the overwhelming number of nonfunctional L1s present in human DNA.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departments of Human Genetics and Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Phone: (734) 615-0456. Fax: (734) 763-3784. E-mail: moranj{at}umich.edu.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2001, p. 1429-1439, Vol. 21, No. 4
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.4.1429-1439.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. J. Virol. Eukaryot. Cell
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.