UNUSUAL FEATURES OF THE RETROID ELEMENT PAT FROM THE NEMATODE PANAGRELLUS-REDIVIVUS

The PAT retroid transposable elements differ from other retroids in that they have a 'split direct repeat' structure, i.e., an internal 300bp sequence is found repeated, about one half at each element extremity. A very abundant transcript of about 900nt, the start of which maps to the preferentially deleted portion of PAT elements, is detected on total Panagrellus redivivus RNA bearing Northern blots. A potentially corresponding ORF encodes a protein of 265 residues having a carboxy terminal Cystein motif, believed to be exclusively characteristic of the GAG protein in retroid elements. A much fainter, 1800nt long transcript, is also detected on Northern blots and maps slightly downstream of the first ORF. The predicted protein sequence of this region bears motifs typical of reverse transcriptase and RNaseH, as found in the Pol genes of retroid elements. Peptide motif similarities are greatest with the DIRS-1 element derived from Dictyostelium discoideum. The possibility of using PAT elements as transposon tagging system for Caenorhabditis elegans is discussed.