Robertson H M
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801.
Nature. 1993 Mar 18;362(6417):241-5. doi: 10.1038/362241a0.
The mariner transposable element is a small member of the short inverted terminal repeat class thought to transpose through a DNA intermediate. Originally described in Drosophila mauritiana, it is now known in several species of the family Drosophilidae, and in a moth Hyalophora cecropia. Here I use primers designed to represent regions of amino-acid conservation between the putative transposase genes of the D. mauritiana and H. cecropia elements to amplify equivalent regions of presumed mariner elements from ten other insects representing six additional orders, including the malaria-vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. Sequences of multiple clones from each species reveal a diverse array of mariner elements, with multiple subfamilies in the genomes of some insects, indicating both vertical inheritance and horizontal transfers. An intact open reading frame in at least one clone from each species suggests each may carry functional transposable elements. Therefore the mariner element is an excellent candidate for development of genetic transformation systems for non-drosophilid insects, and possibly other arthropods.
水手转座元件是短反向末端重复序列类的一个小成员，被认为通过DNA中间体进行转座。它最初是在毛里求斯果蝇中描述的，现在在果蝇科的几个物种以及一种天蚕蛾中都有发现。在这里，我使用设计用于代表毛里求斯果蝇和天蚕蛾元件推定转座酶基因之间氨基酸保守区域的引物，从代表另外六个目（包括疟疾传播媒介冈比亚按蚊）的其他十种昆虫中扩增推定水手元件的等效区域。每个物种多个克隆的序列揭示了各种各样的水手元件，一些昆虫的基因组中有多个亚家族，这表明既有垂直遗传也有水平转移。每个物种至少一个克隆中的完整开放阅读框表明每个物种可能携带功能性转座元件。因此，水手元件是开发非果蝇昆虫以及可能其他节肢动物的遗传转化系统的极佳候选者。
