Discovery of short pseudogenes derived from messenger RNAs.

ABSTRACT: More than 40% of the human genome is generated by retrotransposition, a series of in vivo processes involving reverse transcription of RNA molecules and integration of the transcripts into the genomic sequence. The mechanism of retrotransposition, however, is not fully understood, and additional genomic elements generated by retrotransposition may remain to be discovered. Here, we report that the human genome contains many previously unidentified short pseudogenes generated by retrotransposition of mRNAs. Genomic elements generated by non-long terminal repeat retrotransposition have specific sequence signatures: a poly-A tract that is immediately downstream and a pair of duplicated sequences, called target site duplications (TSDs), at either end. Using a new computer program, TSDscan, that

SUBMITTER: Terai G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2831318 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature