A sequence of DNA in a chromosome that arose by the copying of an RNA virus into DNA by reverse transcriptase and integration of the DNA copy into the chromosome.
Example sentencesExamples
Seitz et al. observed that, in mice, certain microRNAs were transcribed only in the maternal genome while a homologous retroelement was transcribed only in the paternal genome.
The molecular organization of both tandem repeats and retroelements into specific chromosomal regions, as revealed by sequencing and FISH analysis, allows cursory insight into the organization of the soybean genome.
Recent genome sequence analyses have shown the quantitative importance of retroelements.
In tomato and other plant species, greatly reduced rates of recombination are observed near and on centromeric regions and in retroelements, transposons, and other highly repetitive regions.
As the analysis of retroelements continues, not only their abundance in genomes, but also the great plasticity apparent in their structure is becoming clearer.