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 Danilevskaya, O. N.
Right arrow Articles by Pardue, M. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Danilevskaya, O. N.
Right arrow Articles by Pardue, M. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 873-881, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Two Drosophila Telomeric Transposable Elements Have Very Different Patterns of Transcription

O. N. Danilevskaya, K. L. Traverse, N. C. Hogan, P. G. DeBaryshe, and M. L. Pardue*

Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Received 18 June 1998/Returned for modification 17 August 1998/Accepted 29 September 1998

The transposable elements HeT-A and TART constitute the telomeres of Drosophila chromosomes. Both are non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons, sharing the remarkable property of transposing only to chromosome ends. In addition, strong sequence similarity of their gag proteins indicates that these coding regions share a common ancestor. These findings led to the assumption that HeT-A and TART are closely related. However, we now find that these elements produce quite different sets of transcripts. HeT-A produces only sense-strand transcripts of the full-length element, whereas TART produces both sense and antisense full-length RNAs, with antisense transcripts in more than 10-fold excess over sense RNA. In addition, features of TART sequence organization resemble those of a subclass of non-LTR elements characterized by unequal terminal repeats. Thus, the ancestral gag sequence appears to have become incorporated in two different types of elements, possibly with different functions in the telomere. HeT-A transcripts are found in both nuclear and cytoplasmic cell fractions, consistent with roles as both mRNA and transposition template. In contrast, both sense and antisense TART transcripts are almost entirely concentrated in nuclear fractions. Also, TART open reading frame 2 probes detect a cytoplasmic mRNA for reverse transcriptase (RT), with no similarity to TART sequence 5' or 3' of the RT coding region. This RNA could be a processed TART transcript or the product of a "free-standing" RT gene. Either origin would be novel. The distinctive transcription patterns of both HeT-A and TART are conserved in Drosophila yakuba, despite significant sequence divergence. The conservation argues that these sets of transcripts are important to the function(s) of HeT-A and TART.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Bldg. 68-670, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. Phone: (617) 253-6741. Fax: (617) 253-8699. E-mail: mlpardue{at}mit.edu.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 873-881, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Shpiz, S., Kwon, D., Rozovsky, Y., Kalmykova, A. (2009). rasiRNA pathway controls antisense expression of Drosophila telomeric retrotransposons in the nucleus. Nucleic Acids Res 37: 268-278 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Shpiz, S., Kwon, D., Uneva, A., Kim, M., Klenov, M., Rozovsky, Y., Georgiev, P., Savitsky, M., Kalmykova, A. (2007). Characterization of Drosophila Telomeric Retroelement TAHRE: Transcription, Transpositions, and RNAi-based Regulation of Expression. Mol Biol Evol 24: 2535-2545 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Maxwell, P. H., Belote, J. M., Levis, R. W. (2006). Identification of multiple transcription initiation, polyadenylation, and splice sites in the Drosophila melanogaster TART family of telomeric retrotransposons. Nucleic Acids Res 34: 5498-5507 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • George, J. A., DeBaryshe, P. G., Traverse, K. L., Celniker, S. E., Pardue, M.-L. (2006). Genomic organization of the Drosophila telomere retrotransposable elements. Genome Res 16: 1231-1240 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Savitsky, M., Kwon, D., Georgiev, P., Kalmykova, A., Gvozdev, V. (2006). Telomere elongation is under the control of the RNAi-based mechanism in the Drosophila germline. Genes Dev. 20: 345-354 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Melnikova, L., Biessmann, H., Georgiev, P. (2005). The Ku Protein Complex Is Involved in Length Regulation of Drosophila Telomeres. Genetics 170: 221-235 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Abad, J. P., de Pablos, B., Osoegawa, K., de Jong, P. J., Martin-Gallardo, A., Villasante, A. (2004). Genomic Analysis of Drosophila melanogaster Telomeres: Full-length Copies of HeT-A and TART Elements at Telomeres. Mol Biol Evol 21: 1613-1619 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Abad, J. P., de Pablos, B., Osoegawa, K., de Jong, P. J., Martin-Gallardo, A., Villasante, A. (2004). TAHRE, a Novel Telomeric Retrotransposon from Drosophila melanogaster, Reveals the Origin of Drosophila Telomeres. Mol Biol Evol 21: 1620-1624 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Casacuberta, E., Pardue, M.-L. (2003). Transposon telomeres are widely distributed in the Drosophila genus: TART elements in the virilis group. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 3363-3368 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • George, J. A., Pardue, M.-L. (2003). The Promoter of the Heterochromatic Drosophila Telomeric Retrotransposon, HeT-A, Is Active When Moved Into Euchromatic Locations. Genetics 163: 625-635 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Melnikova, L., Georgiev, P. (2002). Enhancer of terminal gene conversion, a New Mutation in Drosophila melanogaster That Induces Telomere Elongation by Gene Conversion. Genetics 162: 1301-1312 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Casacuberta, E., Pardue, M.-L. (2002). Coevolution of the Telomeric Retrotransposons Across Drosophila Species. Genetics 161: 1113-1124 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Savitsky, M., Kravchuk, O., Melnikova, L., Georgiev, P. (2002). Heterochromatin Protein 1 Is Involved in Control of Telomere Elongation in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22: 3204-3218 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pardue, M.-L., DeBaryshe, P. G., Lowenhaupt, K. (2001). Another protozoan contributes to understanding telomeres and transposable elements. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 14195-14197 [Full Text]  
  • Kahn, T., Savitsky, M., Georgiev, P. (2000). Attachment of HeT-A Sequences to Chromosomal Termini in Drosophila melanogaster May Occur by Different Mechanisms. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20: 7634-7642 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»