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. 1989 Dec;86(23):9451–9455. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.23.9451

Chromosome-breaking structure in maize involving a fractured Ac element.

E Ralston 1, J English 1, H K Dooner 1
PMCID: PMC298514  PMID: 2556713

Abstract

Chromosome breakage in maize can result from an interaction between certain transposable elements. When an Ac (Activator) element and a state I Ds (Dissociation) element are present together in the genome, either linked or unlinked, breaks occur regularly at the locus of the Ds element. We show here that breaks occur with high frequency at or near the locus of a structure consisting of a 2.5-kilobase (kb) terminally deleted or fractured Ac element very tightly linked to a second, intact 4.6-kb Ac element. This structure has the features of a macrotransposon and may behave like one. Loss of the tight linkage abolishes chromosome breakage. A model based on transposition of the macrotransposon is proposed to explain the chromosome-breaking properties of Ac and Ds.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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