Summary
The Glu-1 locus, present on the long arms of the group 1 chromosomes of wheat, codes for a group of storage protein polypeptides termed high molecular weight (HMW) subunits of glutenin. Hexaploid wheat varieties carry a ‘silent’ Glu-1y allele on chromosome 1A, no polypeptide being attributable to this locus. When two such alleles from different varieties were compared, one was found to contain an 8 kb insertion of DNA, termed Wis-2, interrupting the coding sequence. The insertion site is flanked by a 5 bp duplication. The two ends of Wis-2 contain similar sequences over 500 bp long and its termini contain almost the same short sequences but in opposite orientation. These terminal sequences are related to those of several ‘retroposon’-type transposable elements found in other organisms.
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Communicated by H. Saedler
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Harberd, N.P., Flavell, R.B. & Thompson, R.D. Identification of a transposon-like insertion in a Glu-1 allele of wheat. Molec Gen Genet 209, 326–332 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329661
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329661