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. 2002 Dec;162(4):1617–1630. doi: 10.1093/genetics/162.4.1617

kangaroo, a mobile element from Volvox carteri, is a member of a newly recognized third class of retrotransposons.

Leonard Duncan 1, Kristine Bouckaert 1, Fay Yeh 1, David L Kirk 1
PMCID: PMC1462361  PMID: 12524337

Abstract

Retrotransposons play an important role in the evolution of genomic structure and function. Here we report on the characterization of a novel retrotransposon called kangaroo from the multicellular green alga, Volvox carteri. kangaroo elements are highly mobile and their expression is developmentally regulated. They probably integrate via double-stranded, closed-circle DNA intermediates through the action of an encoded recombinase related to the lambda-site-specific integrase. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that kangaroo elements are closely related to other unorthodox retrotransposons including PAT (from a nematode), DIRS-1 (from Dictyostelium), and DrDIRS1 (from zebrafish). PAT and kangaroo both contain split direct repeat (SDR) termini, and here we show that DIRS-1 and DrDIRS1 elements contain terminal features structurally related to SDRs. Thus, these mobile elements appear to define a third class of retrotransposons (the DIRS1 group) that are unified by common structural features, genes, and integration mechanisms, all of which differ from those of LTR and conventional non-LTR retrotransposons.

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Selected References

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