Transposition 1 Flashcards
what can transposition events cause?
- may cause deletions or inversions or lead to movement of host sequences to new locations
- can mix up the genome or move host sequences to new locations
transposons
- genetic elements in the genome that are mobile
- A major cause of variation in almost all genomes is caused by transposable elements and their presence can have a major impact on the overall size of the genome
- Transposons are DNA elements that “hop” or transpose to different places within the genome
what part of the genome is comprised of transposons in maize and corn?
- roughly half
- Usually nonfunctional, transposons is no longer active
- Effort is suppressing transposons
what are the two major classes of transposons?
retroelements and DNA-type elements
what are retroelements?
- make DNA copies of their RNA transcripts
- Encode a unique enzyme required for their transposition (reverse transcriptase)
- primarily in eukaryotes
what are the types of retroelements?
LTR retrotransposons, Retroviruses, and nonLTR-retroposons
what are DNA-type elements?
- Directly propagate as DNA by jumping to new sites within the host genome.
- Encode transposase enzyme
- Sometimes will carry a second gene to dissolve a cointegrate between circular genomes that are a result of replicative transposition - resolvase
- If they only make copies of themselves it is only transposase
- common in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes
- do not affect anything other than DNA
- nonhomologous recombination
- only transport their own sequence - no other DNA
LTR retrotransposons
- have long terminal repeats
- no infectious particle
retroviruses
- closely related to LTR but produce a coat protein to form an infectious particle
- also has LTRs
non-LTR retrotransposons
- have a different mode of replication than LTR retrotransposons
what are the ways transposition can occur?
- generate a new copy at a random site
- or the transposon may transpose directly and leave a hole in the donor DNA
what affect can transposition have?
- Transpositions to a new site can have a major impact on genome structure
- Unequal crossover events between related transposons can cause rearrangements in the order of genes
transposition
the movement of a transposon
transposase
- enzyme that cits and ligates DNA
where were transposons first identified?
in bacterial operons-spontaneous silencing
what is the simplest transposon?
IS elements
what are the two types of transposition?
replicative and nonreplicative
what is the name of sequences that flank the transposase gene in a simple transposon?
ITR
what is the rate of transposition?
10^-4
- rate of a particular gene picking up a transposon is about equal to rate of a gene undergoing spontaneous mutation
what is the rate of spontaneous mutation?
- 10^-5 to 10^-7 per generation
what is the rate of reversion?
10^-6 to 10^-10 per generation
- reversion is 10^3 times less frequent than insertion
what are ITRs?
- inverted terminal repeats
- define the ends of transposon, closelt related rather than identical
- the recognition of these ends is critical in transposition and point mutations abort it
- transposase is encoded by sequences within the transposon and between the ITRs
what is the process of insertion elements?
- staggered nicks are made at the target site
- transposon joined to single-stranded ends
- gaps at target site are filled in and sealed through direct repeats
staggered ends
- As a consequence of jumping, transposase lands on the target and cuts its own 3’ end and ligase to the target site and cutting the target and separating it.
- Does not make a staggered end cut as an offset between the two ends. The amount of bases is the geometry of the transposase
- varies between 4-13