2nd annual MGSE Symposium - Institute for Evolution and ...

Angela Noll 1
1
Institute for Evolution and
Biodiversity,
Westfälische Wilhelms-
University, Münster
a.noll@uni-muenster.de
48
Tailless Retropseudogenes in different
Clades of Eukaryotes
Tailless retropseudogenes are a mainly unexplored novel class of mammalian-specific
pseudogenes, which are deduced prominently from highly expressed and polyadenylated
RNAs such as transfer RNAs (tRNAs). The detection of short direct repeats (DRs) flanking
these elements suggests that the generation and distribution occurs via a LINE1-dependent
retrotransposition event within the genome. Another peculiarity consists in the absence of
the expected poly(A)-tail (together with further bases) at the 3’ end of these new detected
pseudogenes. Such truncated forms were called “tailless retropseudogenes”. However, the
existence of newly detected 3’ truncated RNA and retroposed fragments, which are highly
distributed within the genome of human, mouse, rat, and other mammalian species, is
not well characterised since the time of their discovery, although they unambiguously
represent a new mechanism of LINE-derived retrotransposition. This presentation will
give a short overview about the knowledge of tailless retropseudogenes, new results and
possible mechanisms of transfer.