HeT-A_pi1, a piRNA target sequence in the Drosophila telomeric retrotransposon HeT-A, is extremely conserved across copies and species.

ABSTRACT: The maintenance of the telomeres in Drosophila species depends on the transposition of the non-LTR retrotransposons HeT-A, TAHRE and TART. HeT-A and TART elements have been found in all studied species of Drosophila suggesting that their function has been maintained for more than 60 million years. Of the three elements, HeT-A is by far the main component of D. melanogaster telomeres and, unexpectedly for an element with an essential role in telomere elongation, the conservation of the nucleotide sequence of HeT-A is very low. In order to better understand the function of this telomeric retrotransposon, we studied the degree of conservation along HeT-A copies. We identified a small sequence within the 3' UTR of the element that is extremely conserved among copies of the element both, within

SUBMITTER: Petit N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3357415 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature