Sequence of the C. elegans transposable element Tcl

Abstract

The complete nucleotide sequence was determined for Tcl, a transposable element in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The 1610-base-pair element terminates in 54-base-pair perfect inverted repeats and is flanked by a 2-base-pair duplication of the target sequence. The Tcl sequence contains two long open reading frames on the same DNA strand but in different translational reading frames. The positions of transcriptional control sequences suggest that a single transcript is made, which could produce two polypeptides, 273 and 112 amino acids in length. These features, i.e. terminal repeats, target site duplication and open reading frames, make Tcl similar to transposable elements from other species. © 1983 IRL Press Limited.