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. 1993 Apr;12(4):1487–1497. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05792.x

Generation of processed pseudogenes in murine cells.

T Tchénio 1, E Segal-Bendirdjian 1, T Heidmann 1
PMCID: PMC413361  PMID: 8385606

Abstract

Using as a reporter gene a non-coding proviral structure marked with an intron-containing indicator, we demonstrate the de novo formation, via a retrotransposition pathway, of canonical processed pseudogenes in cultured mammalian cells. Their structural features include endings corresponding to the start and termination of the RNA intermediate, intron loss, acquisition of a 3' poly(A) tail, and target site duplications of variable length. The absence of extracellular intermediates for these processes, and the elimination during retrotransposition of sequences in the reporter gene essential in cis for a retroviral cycle, further suggest that endogenous retroviruses or related elements are not involved. Pseudogene formation frequency is markedly increased (up to 10-fold) by several treatments including treatment with 5-azacytidine or tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate, or serum starvation, which do not act at the reporter gene transcription level, but rather on endogenous genes--including the LINE elements--necessarily involved in trans-complementation for retrotransposition.

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