Retrotransposons in the flanking regions of normal plant genes: a role for copia-like elements in the evolution of gene structure and expression.

The wx-K mutation results from the insertion of a copia-like retrotransposon into exon 12 of the maize waxy gene. This retrotransposon, named Hopscotch, has one long open reading frame encoding all of the domains required for transposition. Computer-assisted database searches using Hopscotch and other plant copia-like retroelements as query sequences have revealed that ancient, degenerate retrotransposon insertions are found in close proximity to 21 previously sequenced plant genes. The data suggest that these elements may be involved in gene duplication and the regulation of gene expression. Similar searches using the Drosophila retrotransposon copia did not reveal any retrotransposon-like sequences in the flanking regions of animal genes. These results, together with the recent finding that reverse-transcriptase sequences characteristic of copia-like elements are ubiquitous and diverse in plants, suggest that copia-like retrotransposons are an ancient component of plant genomes.