RNA from the 5' end of the R2 retrotransposon controls R2 protein binding to and cleavage of its DNA target site.

ABSTRACT: Non-LTR retrotransposons insert into eukaryotic genomes by target-primed reverse transcription (TPRT), a process in which cleaved DNA targets are used to prime reverse transcription of the element's RNA transcript. Many of the steps in the integration pathway of these elements can be characterized in vitro for the R2 element because of the rigid sequence specificity of R2 for both its DNA target and its RNA template. R2 retrotransposition involves identical subunits of the R2 protein bound to different DNA sequences upstream and downstream of the insertion site. The key determinant regulating which DNA-binding conformation the protein adopts was found to be a 320-nt RNA sequence from near the 5' end of the R2 element. In the absence of this 5' RNA the R2 protein binds DNA sequences upstrea

SUBMITTER: Christensen SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1693793 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature