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Transcriptional activation of retrotransposons alters the expression of adjacent genes in wheat

Nature Genetics volume 33, pages 102–106 (2003)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 27 August 2015

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Abstract

Retrotransposons are a principal component of most eukaryotic genomes, representing roughly 40% of the human genome1 and 50–80% of some grass genomes2. They are usually transcriptionally silent but can be activated under certain stresses. Despite their considerable contribution to genome structure, their impact on the expression of adjacent genes is not well understood. The steady-state transcript levels originating from Wis 2-1A retrotransposons are much higher in newly synthesized wheat amphiploids (two or more diverged genomes in the same nucleus). On activation, both Wis 2-1A long terminal repeats drive the readout synthesis of new transcripts from adjacent sequences including the antisense or sense strands of known genes. Here we report that activation of these antisense or sense transcripts is associated with silencing or activation of the corresponding genes, respectively. These data, together with the abundance of retrotransposons in genomes and their ability to be activated by various signals, support the view of transposons as potential controlling elements.

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Figure 1: Analysis of the Wis 2-1A retrotransposon activation.
Figure 2: cDNA-retrotransposon display.
Figure 3: Expression of transcripts flanking LTRs.
Figure 4: Induction of the iojap-like antisense transcript from the 5′ LTR readout promoter activity as determined by quantitative RT–PCR.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Ozkan for providing the amphiploid material, C. Melamed-Bessudo for help and advice and V. Walbot and J. Beckmann for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by a grant from the US–Israel Binational Science Foundation. K.K. was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Feinberg Graduate School.

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  1. Department of Plant Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Khalil Kashkush, Moshe Feldman & Avraham A. Levy

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  1. Khalil Kashkush
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Correspondence to Avraham A. Levy.

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Kashkush, K., Feldman, M. & Levy, A. Transcriptional activation of retrotransposons alters the expression of adjacent genes in wheat. Nat Genet 33, 102–106 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1063

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