Human homologs of TU transposon sequences: polypurine/polypyrimidine sequence elements that can alter DNA conformation in vitro and in vivo.

We previously have shown that homologs of the outer domain segment of the inverted repeat termini (IVR-OD) of the sea urchin TU transposons are conserved among multiple eucaryotic species, including humans. We report here that two cloned human DNA IVR-OD homologs, Hut2 and Hut17, consist of a series of tandem repeats of the trimer AGG/TCC, forming segments (313 and 221 base pairs in length, respectively) of polypurine/polypyrimidine (pPu/pPy or "Puppy") asymmetry in the two DNA strands; these are punctuated at certain sites with variant trimers, which are different for the two clones. Sequences homologous to the Hut2 pPu/pPy tract exist at multiple sites in the DNA of a wide variety of eucaryotes. Hybridization of human DNA with a Hut2 probe or with a previously described chicken DNA pPu/pPy sequence indicates that pPu/pPy sequences can be grouped into families distinguishable by the extent of their homology with each probe at different hybridization stringencies. Moreover, particular pPu/pPy tracts show species-specific differences in their distribution. Both the Hut2 and Hut17 pPu/pPy tracts are cleaved by S1 nuclease when tested on supercoiled plasmids. Most if not all of the 313-base-pair Hut2 pPu/pPy tract is also sensitive to S1 in its native location in HeLa cell chromatin, indicating that the sequence contains conformational information that can be expressed in vivo. This view is supported by evidence that exogenously derived Hut2 pPu/pPy tracts introduced into mouse L cells and integrated in chromatin can assume an S1-sensitive conformation.