The Steamer-like Element-1 Retrotransposon Antisense mRNA Harbors an Internal Ribosome Entry Site That Is Modulated by hnRNPK.

LTR-retrotransposons are transposable elements characterized by the presence of long terminal repeats (LTRs) directly flanking an internal coding region. They share genome organization and replication strategies with retroviruses. Steamer-like Element-1 (SLE-1) is an LTR-retrotransposon identified in the genome of the Chilean blue mussel . SLE-1 is transcribed; however, whether its RNA is also translated and the mechanism underlying such translation remain to be elucidated. Here, we characterize the SLE-1 translation mechanism. We found that the SLE-1 5' and 3'LTRs command transcription of sense and antisense RNAs, respectively. Using luciferase reporters commanded by the untranslated regions (UTRs) of SLE-1, we found that in vitro 5'UTR sense is unable to initiate translation, whereas the antisense 5'UTR initiates translation even when the eIF4E-eIF4G interaction was disrupted, suggesting the presence of an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES). The antisense 5'UTR IRES activity was tested using bicistronic reporters. The antisense 5'UTR has IRES activity only when the mRNA is transcribed in the nucleus, suggesting that nuclear RNA-binding proteins are required to modulate its activity. Indeed, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNPK) was identified as an IRES trans-acting factor (ITAF) of the SLE-1 IRES. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing an IRES in an antisense mRNA derived from a mussel LTR-retrotransposon.