Integration of the yeast retrovirus-like element Ty3 upstream of a human tRNA gene expressed in yeast.

The retrovirus-like element Ty3 of Saccharomyces cerevisae integrates into the yeast genomic DNA in a position specific manner. Ty3 integrates within 1-2 base pairs of the site of transcription initiation by RNA polymerase III. The human tRNA(Lys)3 gene was used as a target for transposition in a plasmid-based assay to determine whether Ty3 integration can be targeted to a human tRNA gene. Each transposition event observed was adjacent to the site of initiation of transcription of the human tRNA gene. Therefore, heterologous tRNA genes can serve as targets for Ty3 in yeast. This is a first step toward development of a system for targeted integrations in heterologous organisms.