DIRS-1 and the other tyrosine recombinase retrotransposons
Authors: Poulter R.T.M. , Goodwin T.J.D. 
Published: July 2005

DIRS-1 is a retroelement from the slime mold <i>Dictyostelium discoideum</i>. Until recently only two related retrotransposons had been described: PAT from the nematode <i>Panagrellus redivivus</i> and <i>Prt1</i> from the zygomycete fungus <i>Phycomyces blakesleeanus</i>. Analyses of the reverse transcriptase sequences encoded by these three elements suggested that they were closely related to each other and more distantly related to the Ty3/<i>gypsy</i> Long Terminal Repeat (LTR) retroelements. They have several unusual structural features that distinguish them from typical LTR elements. For instance, they each encode a tyrosine recombinase (YR), but not a DDE-type integrase or an aspartic protease. Although the DIRS-1-related elements are bordered by terminal repeats these differ from typical LTRs in a number of ways. In DIRS-1, for example, the terminal repeats are inverted (complementary), non-identical in sequence, and the outer edges of the terminal sequences are repeated (adjacent to each other) in the internal region. PAT has so-called “split” direct repeats in which the unrelated terminal sequences appear as direct repeats adjacent to each other in the internal region. The only repetition displayed by <i>Prt1</i> is the presence of short inverted terminal repeats, but the sequenced copy of this element is believed to be a truncated version of an element with a structure resembling DIRS-1. The unusual structure of the terminal repeats of the DIRS1-like elements appears to be related to their replication via free circular intermediates. Site-specific recombination is believed to integrate the circle without creating duplications of the target sites. In recognition of these important distinctions it is proposed that the retrotransposons that encode tyrosine recombinases be called the tyrosine recombinase (or YR) retrotransposons. Recently a large number of additional YR retrotransposons have been described, including elements from fungi (zygomycetes and basidiomycetes), plants (green algae) and a wide range of animals including nematodes, insects, sea urchins, fish and amphibia, while remnants of elements related to DIRS-1 occur in the human genome. The complete set of YR retrotransposons can be divided into two major groups, the DIRS elements and the Ngaro elements, the two groups forming distinct clades on phylogenetic trees based on alignments of RT/RH and recombinase sequences, and also having some structural distinctions. A third group of transposable elements, which we call Cryptons, also carry tyrosine recombinases. These elements do not encode a reverse transcriptase and so are believed to be DNA transposons not retrotransposons. They have been detected in several pathogenic fungi, including the basidiomycete <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i>, and the ascomycetes <i>Coccidioides posadasii</i> and <i>Histoplasma capsulatum</i>. Sequence comparisons suggest that the Crypton YRs are related to those of the YR retrotransposons. We suggest that the YR retrotransposons arose from the combination of a Crypton-like YR DNA transposon and the RT/RH encoding sequence of a retrotransposon.