Dear Editor, The maize Mutator （MuDRIMu） transposon family is the most active DNA transposon in plants （Lisch, 2002）. The Mu family contains diverse elements, all sharing similar -215-bp terminal inverted repeats...
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Dear Editor, The maize Mutator （MuDRIMu） transposon family is the most active DNA transposon in plants （Lisch, 2002）. The Mu family contains diverse elements, all sharing similar -215-bp terminal inverted repeats （TIRs）. MuDR is the autonomous element, and a transcriptionally active MuDR is required for transposition of the non-autonomous Mu elements （Chomet et al., 1991）. MuDR contains two genes, mudrA and mudrB （Figure 1A）; mudrA encodes the MURA transposase, and mudrB encodes a protein with unknown function. To avoid the deleterious effects of transposons, plants have acquired mechanisms to epigenetically silence them. Silenced Mu ele- ments become heavily methylated, and their reactivation is very rare. To date, only UV-B radiation treatments have reac- tivated silenced Mu （Walbot, 1999）.
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