A variant Tc4 transposable element in the nematode C.elegans could encode a novel protein

A variant C.elegans Tc4 transposable element, TcA-rh1030, has been sequenced and Is 3483 bp long. The Tc4 element that had been analyzed previously is 1605 bp long, consists of two 774-bp nearly perfect Inverted terminal repeats connected by a 57-bp loop, and lacks significant open reading frames. In Tc4-rh1030, by comparison, a 2343-bp novel sequence is present in place of a 477-bp segment in one of the Inverted repeats. The novel sequence of Tc4-rh1030 is present about five times per haplold genome and is invariably associated with Tc4 elements; we have used the designation Tc4v to denote this variant subfamily of Tc4 elements. Sequence analysis of three cDNA clones suggests that a Tc4v element contains at least five exons that could encode a novel basic protein of 537 amlno acid residues. On northern blots, a 1.6-kb Tc4v-specific transcript was detected In the mutator strain TR679 but not In the wild-type strain N2; Tc4 elements are known to transpose in TR679 but appear to be quiescent in N2. We have analyzed transcripts produced by an unc-33 gene that has the Tc4-rh1030 insertlonal mutation in its transcribed region; all or almost all of the Tc4v sequence is frequently spliced out of the mutant unc-33 transcripts, sometimes by means of non-consensus splice acceptor sites.