The 3′ non-coding region of the Drosophila melanogaster HeT-A telomeric retrotransposon contains sequences with propensity to form G-quadruplex DNA

HeT-A elements are non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons added onto the Drosophila chromosome ends. We hale investigated the formation in vitro of higher order structures by oligonucleotides derived from the 3' non-coding region of HeT-A elements and found that they are capable of forming G-quadruplex DNA. These results suggest that the 3' repeat region of HeT-A may structurally behave as the telomeric repeats common to a majority of eukaryotes. The presence of structural motifs shared by telomeres and centromeres and the implications of these findings for chromosome evolution are discussed. (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.