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PMID: 8389698 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Mobilization of quiet, endogenous Tc3 transposons of Caenorhabditis elegans by forced expression of Tc3 transposase.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 12 ·No. 6 ·1993-06-00 ·Pages 2513-20

van Luenen HG, Colloms SD, Plasterk RH

Abstract

The commonly studied Caenorhabditis elegans strain Bristol N2 contains approximately 15 copies per genome of the transposon Tc3. However, Tc3 is not active in Bristol N2. Tc3 contains one major open reading frame (Tc3A). We have fused this open reading frame to an inducible promoter and expressed it in a transgenic Bristol N2 line. Tc3A expression resulted in frequent excision and transposition of endogenous Tc3 elements. This shows that the Bristol N2 genome contains Tc3 transposons that are cis proficient for transposition, but are immobile because Tc3A is absent. We demonstrate that recombinant Tc3A binds specifically to the terminal nucleotides of the Tc3 inverted repeat, indicating that Tc3A is the Tc3 transposase. Activation of Tc3 transposition in vivo was accompanied by the appearance of extrachromosomal, linear copies of Tc3. These may be intermediates in Tc3 transposition.

Related Genes
TC3A gpa-2
MeSH Terms
Animals Base Sequence Binding Sites Caenorhabditis elegans/enzymology,genetics Chromosomes Cloning, Molecular DNA/metabolism DNA Transposable Elements Gene Expression Larva/growth & development Molecular Sequence Data Nucleotidyltransferases/metabolism Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid Transposases
Chemicals
DNA Transposable Elements DNA Nucleotidyltransferases Transposases
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
van Luenen H G
Netherlands Cancer Institute, Division of Molecular Biology, Amsterdam.
Colloms S D
Plasterk R H
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
Published
1993-06-00
Pages
2513-20
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC413489
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source PMC Full Text View journal details
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