Alternative splicing induced by insertion of retrotransposons into the maize waxy gene.

The molecular basis for the low level expression of three alleles of the maize waxy (Wx) gene has been described. Each allele contains a retrotransposon in intron sequences. These insertions represent previously undescribed elements, and their association with three wx alleles indicates that retrotransposon elements are important agents of spontaneous mutation in maize. For each allele, element sequences are spliced from pre-mRNA with the surrounding intron even though the insertions increase intron length by approximately 40- to 60-fold. In addition, despite differences in element sequences, insertion sites, and relative orientations, each element disrupts long-range splice site recognition leading to novel Wx transcripts where exons both upstream and downstream of the insertion site are skipped. The expression of wx alleles with large insertions in introns provides support for studies that indicate that the primary cis requirement for maize introns is the splice donor and acceptor sites.