Identification and characterization of 14 transposon-like elements in the noncoding regions of members of the Xa21 family of disease resistance genes in rice

The rice disease resistance gene Xa21, which encodes a receptor-like kinase, is a member of a multigene family. Based on comparisons of genomic sequences of seven family members, seventeen transposon-like elements were identified in the 5' and 3' flanking regions and introns of these genes. Sequence characterization revealed that these elements are diverse, showing similarity to maize Ds, CACTA and miniature inverted repeat-like elements, as well as novel elements. Only two elements were located in presumed coding regions, indicating that integration of transposable elements at the Xa21 disease resistance locus occurred preferentially in noncoding regions.