Transposable element Ds2 of Zea mays influences polyadenylation and splice site selection

Abstract

In the allele adh1-2F11 of Zea mays the 1.3 kb transposable element Ds2 is inserted in the fourth exon of Adh1. Two major RNAs of 3.0 and 1.6 kb are transcribed from this allele. While the 3.0 kb transcript also contains the Ds2 sequences, the 1.6 kb transcript has lost the Ds2 sequences by an alternative splicing process. In this process, a normal 5' splice site is joined to a cryptic 3' splice site located within exon 4. This cryptic 3' splice site is not used in a wild-type Adh1F allele. Other minor transcripts of adh1-2F11 are prematurely terminated and polyadenylated.