The ancient mariner sails again: transposition of the human Hsmar1 element by a reconstructed transposase and activities of the SETMAR protein on transposon ends.

ABSTRACT: Hsmar1, one of the two subfamilies of mariner transposons in humans, is an ancient element that entered the primate genome lineage approximately 50 million years ago. Although Hsmar1 elements are inactive due to mutational damage, one particular copy of the transposase gene has apparently been under selection. This transposase coding region is part of the SETMAR gene, in which a histone methylatransferase SET domain is fused to an Hsmar1 transposase domain. A phylogenetic approach was taken to reconstruct the ancestral Hsmar1 transposase gene, which we named Hsmar1-Ra. The Hsmar1-Ra transposase efficiently mobilizes Hsmar1 transposons by a cut-and-paste mechanism in human cells and zebra fish embryos. Hsmar1-Ra can also mobilize short inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) related t

SUBMITTER: Miskey C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1900042 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature