Identification of a defective transposable element in tobacco.

A putative defective transposable element has been identified in tobacco. This element has been found and characterised in two separate parts of the tobacco genome, specifically within the 3rd intron of the pollen-specific polygalacturonase gene (Npg1) and upstream of the endochitinase gene (Chn50). The element is ca. 0.4 kb in length and is bounded by conserved inverted repeats and putative target site duplications. It appears to fall into the category of non-autonomous transposable elements.