Quadruplex DNA in long terminal repeats in maize LTR retrotransposons inhibits the expression of a reporter gene in yeast.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many studies have shown that guanine-rich DNA sequences form quadruplex structures (G4) in vitro but there is scarce evidence of guanine quadruplexes in vivo. The majority of potential quadruplex-forming sequences (PQS) are located in transposable elements (TEs), especially close to promoters within long terminal repeats of plant LTR retrotransposons.

Results

In order to test the potential effect of G4s on retrotransposon expression, we cloned the long terminal repeats of selected maize LTR retrotransposons upstream of the lacZ reporter gene and measured its transcription and translation in yeast. We found that G4s had an inhibitory effect on translation in vivo since "mutants" (where guanines were replaced by adenines in PQS) showed higher expression levels than

SUBMITTER: Tokan V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5838962 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature