Retrotransposon

The term retrotransposon denotes a class of transposable DNA sequences . This bears its name because of its structural similarity to retroviruses . Retrotransposons use RNA as a mobile intermediate. In contrast to DNA transposons (class II), they are also referred to as class I transposons.

The subgroup of LTR retrotransposons has the greatest structural similarity to retroviruses within the retrotransposons. Complete LTR retrotransposons contain several sections of protein-coding DNA that are required for the transposition process: a protease , a reverse transcriptase , a ribonuclease , an integrase . Furthermore, complete LTR retrotransposons consist of two terminal LTRs (ie long terminal repeats ). Solo LTRs represent a special form in which, after deletion by homologous recombination, only a single LTR section is present in the genome.

Severely degenerated transposons have generally lost the ability to transpose autonomously.

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Graw, Genetik, 4th edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg 2006, Chapter 9: Instability of the genome: transposons and retroviruses, p. 345f.

Wicker, T., F. Sabot, et al. (2007). "A unified classification system for eukaryotic transposable elements." Nat Rev Genet 8 (12): 973-982.