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PMID: 1719380 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

A new member of a family of site-specific retrotransposons is present in the spliced leader RNA genes of Trypanosoma cruzi.

Molecular and cellular biology ·Vol. 11 ·No. 12 ·1991-12-00 ·Pages 6139-48

Villanueva MS, Williams SP, Beard CB, Richards FF, Aksoy S

Abstract

A new member of a family of site-specific retrotransposons is described in the New World trypanosome Trypanosoma cruzi. This element, CZAR (cruzi-associated retrotransposon), resembles two previously described retrotransposons found in the African trypanosome T. brucei gambiense and the mosquito trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata in specifically inserting between nucleotides 11 and 12 of the highly conserved 39-mer of the spliced leader RNA (SL-RNA) gene. CZAR is similar in overall organization to the other two SL-RNA-associated elements. It possesses two potential long open reading frames which resemble the gag and pol genes of retroviruses. In the pol open reading frame, all three elements contain similarly arranged endonuclease domains and share extensive amino acid homology in the reverse transcriptase region. All are associated with the SL-RNA gene locus and are present in low copy numbers. They do not appear to have 5' truncated versions. All three retrotransposons are otherwise quite distinct from one another, with no significant overall amino acid homology. The presence of such retroelements inserted into the identical site within SL-RNA gene sequences in at least three evolutionarily distant trypanosomatid species argues for a functional role. Because these elements appear to have a precise target site requirement for integration, we refer to them as SL siteposons.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Animals Base Sequence Blotting, Southern DNA Transposable Elements DNA, Protozoan/metabolism Endonucleases/metabolism Genes, gag Molecular Sequence Data Open Reading Frames RNA Splicing RNA, Messenger/genetics RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase/chemistry,metabolism Restriction Mapping Sequence Alignment Trypanosoma cruzi/genetics
Chemicals
DNA Transposable Elements DNA, Protozoan RNA, Messenger RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase Endonucleases
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Villanueva M S
Yale-MacArthur Center for Molecular Parasitology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
Williams S P
Beard C B
Richards F F
Aksoy S
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular and cellular biology
Abbr.
Mol Cell Biol
ISSN
0270-7306
DOI
10.1128/mcb.11.12.6139-6148.1991
Published
1991-12-00
Pages
6139-48
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8109087
PMCID
PMC361791
Subset
IM
Grants
NIAID NIH HHS · 1-PO1 AI28778 · United States
NIAID NIH HHS · F32-AI08415 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
M62862, M64559, M64560, M64561, M64562, M64563, M64564, M64565, M64566, S66378
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/mcb.11.12.6139-6148.1991 PMC Full Text View journal details
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