Skip to main content
PMC home page
The EMBO Journal logoLink to The EMBO Journal
. 1984 May;3(5):1021–1028. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01922.x

The Spm (En) transposable element controls the excision of a 2-kb DNA insert at the wxm-8 allele of Zea mays

Zs Schwarz-Sommer 1,*, A Gierl 1, R B Klösgen 1, U Wienand 1, P A Peterson 1, H Saedler 1
PMCID: PMC557466  PMID: 16453520

Abstract

The waxy (Wx) locus of Zea mays was cloned from strains carrying the wild-type and wxm-8 mutant alleles. The receptor component of the Suppressor-Mutator (Spm) controlling element system in the wxm-8 allele was shown to be a 2 kb long insertion within the transcribed region of the Wx gene. The insertion, termed Spm-I8, is excised during somatic reversion events induced by the autonomous controlling element Enhancer (En), which is an equivalent to Spm. Integration of Spm-I8 into the Wx gene generates a 3-bp target site duplication. Spm-I8 has a 13 bp long inverted repeat at its termini. The ends of the element can be further folded to build a large double-stranded structure consisting of five perfectly matching double-stranded regions of 9–13 bp in length, interrupted by single-stranded loops. A comparison of the wild-type and wxm-8 alleles revealed two additional insertions 6 (insert-1) and 0.25 (insert-2) kb in length. No En-induced excision of insert-1 and insert-2 could be detected so far. There is remarkable structure and sequence homology between Spm-I8 and the transposable elements Tam1 and Tam2 of Antirrhinum majus at their termini, reflecting a possible evolutionary and/or functional relationship between transposons in different plant species.

Keywords: transposable element, Spm (En), wxm-8, Zea mays, DNA sequence

Full text

PDF
1023

Images in this article

1022Fig. 1.
on p.1022
1022Fig. 2.
on p.1022
1023Fig. 3.
on p.1023
1024Fig. 4.
on p.1024
1025Fig. 5.
on p.1025

Selected References

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

  1. Benton W. D., Davis R. W. Screening lambdagt recombinant clones by hybridization to single plaques in situ. Science. 1977 Apr 8;196(4286):180–182. doi: 10.1126/science.322279. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bonas U., Sommer H., Saedler H. The 17-kb Tam1 element of Antirrhinum majus induces a 3-bp duplication upon integration into the chalcone synthase gene. EMBO J. 1984 May;3(5):1015–1019. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01921.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Courage-Tebbe U., Döring H. P., Fedoroff N., Starlinger P. The controlling element Ds at the Shrunken locus in Zea mays: structure of the unstable sh-m5933 allele and several revertants. Cell. 1983 Sep;34(2):383–393. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90372-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Davis R. W., Hyman R. W. A study in evolution: the DNA base sequence homology between coliphages T7 and T3. J Mol Biol. 1971 Dec 14;62(2):287–301. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(71)90428-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dobberstein B., Garoff H., Warren G., Robinson P. J. Cell-free synthesis and membrane insertion of mouse H-2Dd histocompatibility antigen and beta 2-microglobulin. Cell. 1979 Aug;17(4):759–769. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90316-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Döring H. P., Tillmann E., Starlinger P. DNA sequence of the maize transposable element Dissociation. Nature. 1984 Jan 12;307(5947):127–130. doi: 10.1038/307127a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Echt C. S., Schwartz D. Evidence for the Inclusion of Controlling Elements within the Structural Gene at the Waxy Locus in Maize. Genetics. 1981 Oct;99(2):275–284. doi: 10.1093/genetics/99.2.275. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fedoroff N., Wessler S., Shure M. Isolation of the transposable maize controlling elements Ac and Ds. Cell. 1983 Nov;35(1):235–242. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90226-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Fincham J. R., Sastry G. R. Controlling elements in maize. Annu Rev Genet. 1974;8:15–50. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.08.120174.000311. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Frischauf A. M., Lehrach H., Poustka A., Murray N. Lambda replacement vectors carrying polylinker sequences. J Mol Biol. 1983 Nov 15;170(4):827–842. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80190-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Geiser M., Döring H. P., Wöstemeyer J., Behrens U., Tillmann E., Starlinger P. A cDNA clone from Zea mays endosperm sucrose synthetase mRNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Dec 20;8(24):6175–6188. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.24.6175. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hanahan D. Studies on transformation of Escherichia coli with plasmids. J Mol Biol. 1983 Jun 5;166(4):557–580. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80284-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Karn J., Brenner S., Barnett L., Cesareni G. Novel bacteriophage lambda cloning vector. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Sep;77(9):5172–5176. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.9.5172. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Land H., Grez M., Hauser H., Lindenmaier W., Schütz G. 5'-Terminal sequences of eucaryotic mRNA can be cloned with high efficiency. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 May 25;9(10):2251–2266. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.10.2251. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lis J. T., Schleif R. Size fractionation of double-stranded DNA by precipitation with polyethylene glycol. Nucleic Acids Res. 1975 Mar;2(3):383–389. doi: 10.1093/nar/2.3.383. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. NELSON O. E., RINES H. W. The enzymatic deficiency in the waxy mutant of maize. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1962 Oct 31;9:297–300. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(62)90043-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Nelson O. E. The WAXY Locus in Maize. II. the Location of the Controlling Element Alleles. Genetics. 1968 Nov;60(3):507–524. doi: 10.1093/genetics/60.3.507. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Nevers P., Saedler H. Transposable genetic elements as agents of gene instability and chromosomal rearrangements. Nature. 1977 Jul 14;268(5616):109–115. doi: 10.1038/268109a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Parnes J. R., Velan B., Felsenfeld A., Ramanathan L., Ferrini U., Appella E., Seidman J. G. Mouse beta 2-microglobulin cDNA clones: a screening procedure for cDNA clones corresponding to rare mRNAs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Apr;78(4):2253–2257. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.4.2253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Peterson P A. Mutable a(1) of the En System in Maize. Genetics. 1961 Jul;46(7):759–771. doi: 10.1093/genetics/46.7.759. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Peterson P. A. The origin of an unstable locus in maize. Genetics. 1968 Jul;59(3):391–398. doi: 10.1093/genetics/59.3.391. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Shure M., Wessler S., Fedoroff N. Molecular identification and isolation of the Waxy locus in maize. Cell. 1983 Nov;35(1):225–233. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90225-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Tsai C. Y. The function of the waxy locus in starch synthesis in maize endosperm. Biochem Genet. 1974 Feb;11(2):83–96. doi: 10.1007/BF00485766. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Vodkin L. O., Rhodes P. R., Goldberg R. B. cA lectin gene insertion has the structural features of a transposable element. Cell. 1983 Oct;34(3):1023–1031. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90560-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Wahl G. M., Stern M., Stark G. R. Efficient transfer of large DNA fragments from agarose gels to diazobenzyloxymethyl-paper and rapid hybridization by using dextran sulfate. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Aug;76(8):3683–3687. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.8.3683. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Wienand U., Feix G. Electrophoretic fractionation and translation in vitro of poly(rA)-containing RNA from maize endosperm. Evidence of two mRNAs coding for zein protein. Eur J Biochem. 1978 Dec;92(2):605–611. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1978.tb12783.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wienand U., Schwarz Z., Feix G. Electrophoretic elution of nucleic acids from gels adapted for subsequent biological tests. Application for analysis of mRNAs from maize endosperm. FEBS Lett. 1979 Feb 15;98(2):319–323. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(79)80208-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Yamamoto K. R., Alberts B. M., Benzinger R., Lawhorne L., Treiber G. Rapid bacteriophage sedimentation in the presence of polyethylene glycol and its application to large-scale virus purification. Virology. 1970 Mar;40(3):734–744. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(70)90218-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The EMBO Journal are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES