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The Maize Transposable Element Activator (Ac)

  • Chapter
Transposable Elements

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 204))

Abstract

Almost 50 years after the discovery of the autonomous transposable element Activator (Ac) and its nonautonomous relatives, termed Dissociation (Ds), in maize by Barbara McClintock, we have learned that transposons occur in many organisms; they may even be ubiquitous inhabitants of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Meanwhile, there are more than ten DNA-based transposable element “families” known in maize which consist of a small number of autonomous and a much larger number of inactive, nonautonomous elements. Based on the structure of an Ac-like sequence in pearl millet, it was calculated that the Ac/Ds elements have existed in the grasses for at least 25 million years (MacRae et al. 1994).

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  1. R. Kunze

    Present address: Institut für Genetik, Universität München, Maria-Ward-Str. 1a, D-80638, München, Germany

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  1. Institut für Genetik, Universität zu Köln, Weyertal 121, D-50931, Köln, Germany

    R. Kunze

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  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, D-50829, Köln, Germany

    Heinz Saedler

  2. Lehrstuhl und Institut für Genetik, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, D-85747, Garching, Germany

    Alfons Gierl

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Kunze, R. (1996). The Maize Transposable Element Activator (Ac) . In: Saedler, H., Gierl, A. (eds) Transposable Elements. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 204. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79795-8_8

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