V-SINEs: a new superfamily of vertebrate SINEs that are widespread in vertebrate genomes and retain a strongly conserved segment within each repetitive unit.

ABSTRACT: We have identified a new superfamily of vertebrate short interspersed repetitive elements (SINEs), designated V-SINEs, that are widespread in fishes and frogs. Each V-SINE includes a central conserved domain preceded by a 5'-end tRNA-related region and followed by a potentially recombinogenic (TG)(n) tract, with a 3' tail derived from the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the corresponding partner long interspersed repetitive element (LINE) that encodes a functional reverse transcriptase. The central domain is strongly conserved and is even found in SINEs in the lamprey genome, suggesting that V-SINEs might be approximately 550 Myr old or older in view of the timing of divergence of the lamprey lineage from the bony fish lineage. The central conserved domain might have been subject to some f

SUBMITTER: Ogiwara I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC155270 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature