Gypsy‐like retrotransposons are widespread in the plant kingdom

Summary Retrotransposons propagate via an RNA intermediate which is then reverse‐transcribed and packaged into virus‐like particles. They are either copia‐ or gypsy‐like in coding domain order and sequence similarity, the gypsy‐like elements sharing their organization with the retroviruses but lacking retroviral envelope domains. Copia‐like retrotransposons, or at least their reverse transcriptase domains, appear broadly distributed in higher plants, but gypsy‐like elements have been reported only for scattered species. The authors have exploited the difference in domain order between these groups to amplify and clone segments bridging the reverse transcriptase – integrase region of specifically gypsy‐like retrotransposons. Species representative of the diversity of higher plants yielded products whose sequences establish that gypsy‐like transposons are dispersed throughout the plant genomes. This class of plant elements has been named romani retrotransposons. The presence of both types ubiquitously in the fungi, plants and animals support their existence as ancient distinct lineages and subsequent, vertical radiation.