Sundararajan P, Atkinson P W, O'Brochta D A
Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, College Park, MD 20742-4450, USA.
Insect Mol Biol. 1999 Aug;8(3):359-68. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2583.1999.83128.x.
There are four non-drosophilid insect gene vector systems available that have been constructed from the short inverted repeat-type transposable elements Minos, piggyBac, mariner and Hermes. These elements (with the possible exception of piggyBac) are members of transposable element families that appear to be widespread in nature. Because these transposable element families are large it is possible that an insect species targeted for transformation will contain related transposable elements. The data presented here begin to address directly the question of interaction between diverged but related members of transposable element families. We tested the ability of the hAT elements hobo and Hermes to interact and cause crossmobilization. Using plasmid-based and chromosome-based element mobility assays we found that the terminal sequences of hobo and Hermes were almost equally good substrates for hobo transposase. However, this ability to crossmobilize was not reciprocal. Hermes transposase was only rarely able to cause the excision of hobo elements from plasmids and was never observed from germline chromosomes. These results have important implications for transgenic insect studies in the future.
目前有四种非果蝇昆虫基因载体系统，它们是由短反向重复型转座元件Minos、piggyBac、mariner和Hermes构建而成的。这些元件（piggyBac可能除外）是转座元件家族的成员，这些家族在自然界中似乎广泛存在。由于这些转座元件家族规模庞大，因此目标转化昆虫物种可能含有相关的转座元件。本文提供的数据开始直接解决转座元件家族中分化但相关成员之间相互作用的问题。我们测试了hAT元件hobo和Hermes相互作用并导致交叉转座的能力。通过基于质粒和基于染色体的元件迁移率测定，我们发现hobo和Hermes的末端序列几乎同样是hobo转座酶的良好底物。然而，这种交叉转座的能力不是相互的。Hermes转座酶很少能导致hobo元件从质粒上切除，在种系染色体中从未观察到这种情况。这些结果对未来的转基因昆虫研究具有重要意义。
