Molecular germplasm characterization is essential for gathering information on favorable attributes and varietal improvement. The current study evaluated the genetic divergence population structure of 80 potato genotypes collected from Punjab, Pakistan, using polymorphic retrotransposon-DNA-based markers (iPBS). A total 11 iPBS primers generated 787 alleles with a mean value 8.9 per primer, whi...

The stability of aging barley calli was investigated with the barley retroelement 1 (BARE-1) retrotransposon specific inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism (IRAP) technique. Mature embryos of barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Zafer-160) were cultured on callus induction MS medium supplemented with 3 mg/L 2,4-D and maintained on the same medium for 60 days. Ten IRAP primers were used in 25 diff...

The development of the lamina, the first optic ganglion of the fly visual system, depends on inductive cues from the innervating photoreceptor axons. lacZ expression from a P-element insertion, A72, occurs in the anlage of the lamina coincident with axon ingrowth from the eye imaginal disc. In eyeless mutants lacking photoreceptor axons, lacZ expression did not occur. The P-element was found to...

Arc/Arg3.1 is required for synaptic plasticity and cognition, and mutations in this gene are linked to autism and schizophrenia. Arc bears a domain resembling retroviral/retrotransposon Gag-like proteins, which multimerize into a capsid that packages viral RNA. The significance of such a domain in a plasticity molecule is uncertain. Here, we report that the Drosophila Arc1 protein forms capsid-...

The terminal sequences of long-terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are a source of powerful molecular markers for linkage mapping and biodiversity studies. The major factor limiting the widespread application of LTR retrotransposon-based molecular markers is the availability of new retrotransposon terminal sequences. We describe a PCR-based method for the rapid isolation of LTR sequences of ...

Mammalian genomes contain numerous evolutionary harbored mobile elements, a part of which are still active and may cause genomic instability. Their movement and positional diversity occasionally result in phenotypic changes and variation by causing altered expression or disruption of neighboring host genes. Here, we describe a novel microarray-based method by which dispersed genomic locations o...

Retrotransposons, the ancestors of retroviruses, have the potential for gene disruption and genomic takeover if not kept in check. Paradoxically, although host cells repress these elements by multiple mechanisms, they are transcribed and are even activated under stress conditions. Here, we describe a new mechanism of retrotransposon regulation through transcription start site (TSS) selection by...

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile nucleotide sequences which, through changing position in host genomes, partake in important evolutionary processes. The expression patterns of two TEs, P element transposon and 412 retrotransposon, were investigated during Drosophila melanogaster and D. willistoni embryogenesis, by means of embryo hybridization using riboprobes. Spatiotemporal transcriptio...

The long-terminal repeat (LTR)-retrotransposon Ty1 is a mobile genetic element that replicates through an RNA intermediate. Retroelement genomic transcripts contain internal structures fundamental to gene expression and propagation. In addition, long non-coding antisense RNAs overlap the 5'-terminal region of the genomic RNA and confer post-translational copy number control. Although LTR- retro...