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. 1990 Dec 11;18(23):6793–6798. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.23.6793

Structure and variability of recently inserted Alu family members.

M A Batzer 1, G E Kilroy 1, P E Richard 1, T H Shaikh 1, T D Desselle 1, C L Hoppens 1, P L Deininger 1
PMCID: PMC332733  PMID: 2175877

Abstract

The HS subfamily of Alu sequences is comprised of a group of nearly identical members. Individual subfamily members share 97.7% nucleotide identity with each other and 98.9% nucleotide identity with the HS consensus sequence. Individual subfamily members are on the average 2.8 million years old, and were probably derived from a single source 'master' gene sometime after the human/great ape divergence. The recent Alu family member insertions provide a better image of the structure of Alu retroposons before they have had the opportunity to change significantly. All of the HS subfamily members are flanked by perfect direct repeats as a result of insertion at staggered nicks. The 'master' gene from which the HS subfamily members were derived had an oligo-dA rich tail at least 40 bases long. The 'master' gene is very rich in CpG dinucleotides, but nucleotide substitutions within subfamily members accumulated in a random manner typical for Alu sequence with CpG substitutions occurring 9.2 fold faster than non-CpG substitutions.

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Selected References

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