Insertion of a long KpnI family member within a mitochondrial-DNA-like sequence present in the human nuclear genome

Abstract

Structural analysis of a phage lambda Charon 4A clone carrying one of the human nuclear mitochondrial(mut)-DNA-like sequences revealed that a KpnI-family member (KpnI 5.5-kb DNA) is inserted within this sequence. The inserted KpnI 5.5-kb DNA contains several possible polyadenylation signal sequences followed by an A-rich sequence at its 3' end and is flanked by perfect 13-bp direct repeats of the duplicated mtDNA-like sequences. These structures strongly suggest that the KpnI 5.5-kb DNA is a mobile element. Comparison of the 5' terminal sequences of the KpnI 5.5-kb DNA and four other long KpnI-family DNAs so far examined, using the predicted general promoter sequence for eukaryotic tRNAs, indicates that they contain the consensus sequences for the split internal RNA polymerase III control region.