Retrozymes are a novel family of non-autonomous retrotransposable elements that contain hammerhead ribozyme motifs. These retroelements are found widespread in eukaryotic genomes, with active copies present in many species, which rely on other autonomous transposons for mobilization. Contrary to other retrotransposons, transcription of retrozymes in vivo leads to the formation and accumulation of circular RNAs, which can be readily detected by RNA blotting. In this chapter, we describe the procedures needed to carry out the cloning of genomic retrozymes, and to detect by northern blot their circular RNA retrotransposition intermediates.
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Diversity and evolution of viroids and viroid-like agents with circular RNA genomes revealed by metatranscriptome mining.
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National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA. Electronic address:
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National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.
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