Quadruplex-Forming Motif Inserted into 3'UTR of Retrotransposon Inhibits Retrotransposition in Yeast

Overview

Journal Biology (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Biology

Date 2021 Apr 30

PMID 33924086

Citations 1

Authors

Viktor Tokan

Jose Luis Rodriguez Lorenzo

Pavel Jedlicka

Iva Kejnovska

Roman Hobza

Eduard Kejnovsky

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Guanine quadruplexes (G4s) serve as regulators of replication, recombination and gene expression. G4 motifs have been recently identified in LTR retrotransposons, but their role in the retrotransposon life-cycle is yet to be understood. Therefore, we inserted G4s into the 3'UTR of retrotransposon and measured the frequency of retrotransposition in yeast strains BY4741, Y00509 (without Pif1 helicase) and with G4-stabilization by N-methyl mesoporphyrin IX (NMM) treatment. We evaluated the impact of G4s on mRNA levels by RT-qPCR and products of reverse transcription by Southern blot analysis. We found that the presence of G4 inhibited retrotransposition. The effect was stronger when G4s were on a transcription template strand which leads to reverse transcription interruption. Both NMM and Pif1p deficiency reduced the retrotransposition irrespective of the presence of a G4 motif in the element. Quantity of mRNA and products of reverse transcription did not fully explain the impact of G4s on retrotransposition indicating that G4s probably affect some other steps of the retrotransposon life-cycle (e.g., translation, VLP formation, integration). Our results suggest that G4 DNA conformation can tune the activity of mobile genetic elements that in turn contribute to shaping the eukaryotic genomes.

Citing Articles

Telomeric retrotransposons show propensity to form G-quadruplexes in various eukaryotic species.

Jedlicka P, Tokan V, Kejnovska I, Hobza R, Kejnovsky E Mob DNA. 2023; 14(1):3.

PMID: 37038191 PMC: 10088271. DOI: 10.1186/s13100-023-00291-9.

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