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The EMBO Journal vol.14 no.24 pp.6333-6338, 1995
mRNA retroposition in human cells: processed pseudogene formation
Joel Maestre, Thierry Tchenio, Olivier Dhellin and Thierry Heidmann1 Unite de Physicochimie et Pharmacologie des Macromolecules Biologiques, CNRS URA147, Institut Gustave Roussy, 39 rue Camille Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France 'Corresponding author
Using a sensitive assay for detection of reverse transcription events, we demonstrate that human HeLa cells can 'retropose', i.e. reverse transcribe and integrate, the mRNA of a naive reporter gene, at a low but detectable frequency. Furthermore, we show that the retroposed copies have all the hallmarks of the processed pseudogenes naturally found in the mammalian genome: they lack intron and 5' promoter sequence, they have acquired a 3' poly(A) tail, and they are flanked by short repeats (
