Identification and nucleotide sequence determination of a potential primer tRNA for reverse transcription of a Drosophila retrotransposon, 297.

Drosophila retrotransposons have been shown to have genes for enzymes similar to the reverse transcriptase of retroviruse. They may possibly be involved in genome replication on translocation (15). Identification was made of a primer tRNA for the putative reverse transcription of a Drosophila retrotransposon, 297, and its genomic counterparts using a homology to the putative primer binding site of 297. Our nucleotide sequence analysis indicated a species of Drosophila serine tRNA to have two distinct properties similar to those characteristic of retroviral primer tRNA: its 3'terminal 18 nucleotides are exactly complementary to the putative primer binding site of 297 and its 19th base from the 3' end is modified. These results appear to support the notion stated above and suggest this serine tRNA to be the most likely candidate for a potential primer tRNA of 297.