Exon-trapping mediated by the human retrotransposon SVA.

ABSTRACT: Although most human retrotransposons are inactive, both inactive and active retrotransposons drive genome evolution and may influence transcription through various mechanisms. In humans, three retrotransposon families are still active, but one of these, SVA, remains mysterious. Here we report the identification of a new subfamily of SVA, which apparently formed after an alternative splicing event where the first exon of the MAST2 gene spliced into an intronic SVA and subsequently retrotransposed. Additional examples of SVA retrotransposing upstream exons due to splicing into SVA were also identified in other primate genomes. After molecular and computational experiments, we found a number of functional 3' splice sites within many different transcribed SVAs across the human and chimpanzee g

SUBMITTER: Hancks DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2775590 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature