Element:Idefix

Description

Idefix is a retrovirus originally characterized from a strain of Drosophila melanogaster called RevI where Idefix and Zam (other Gypsy element) have been associated with a series of mutations affecting eye coloration (Desset et al. 1999). Idefix is primarily found in the centromeric heterochromatin but a limited number of Idefix copies are also found in the euchromatin (Conte et al. 2000). Idefix belongs to the genus Errantiviridae (Boeke et al. 1999; Pringle 1998; 1999; Hull 1999), a lineage of fly-retroviruses and LTR retrotransposons phylogenetically related to 412/mdg1 clade (Tubio, Naveira and Costas 2005). The genomic structure of Idefix is 7.4 Kb in size including LTRs of 0.6 Kb. The internal region displays a Primer Binding Site (PBS) complementary to a tRNALys-4, three Open Reading Frames (ORFs) for gag, pol, and env genes, and a Polypurine Tract (PPT) adjacent to the 3´LTR (Desset et al. 1999).

Structure

Idefix.png


Figure not to scale. If present, long terminal repeats (LTRs) have been highlighted in blue. Amino acid motifs noted with lines indicate the conserved residues in each protein domain, abbreviations below mean:

MA=matrix PR=protease DU or DUT=dUTPase TM=transmembrane TAV or IBMP=transactivator/viroplasmin or inclusion body matrix protein
CA=capsid RT=reverse transcriptase INT=Integrase CHR=chromodomain
NC=nucleocapsid RH=RNaseH SU=surface MOV=movement protein
PPT=polypurine tract PBS=primer binding site ATF=aphid transmission factor VAP=virion associated protein

Related literature

Genbank accession: AJ009736
Clade: 17.6
Cluster or genus: Errantiviridae
Branch or class: Branch 2
Family: Ty3/Gypsy
System: LTR retroelements
Host:
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Drosophila melanogaster.gif
Drosophila melanogaster
Image, courtesy of Andreas Trepte, Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
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Welcome to the Gypsy Database (GyDB) an open editable database about the evolutionary relationship of viruses, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and the genomic repeats where we invite all authors to contribute with their knowledge to improve and expand the topics.
Cite this project:

Llorens, C., Futami, R., Covelli, L., Dominguez-Escriba, L., Viu, J.M., Tamarit, D., Aguilar-Rodriguez, J. Vicente-Ripolles, M., Fuster, G., Bernet, G.P., Maumus, F., Munoz-Pomer, A., Sempere, J.M., LaTorre, A., Moya, A. (2011) The Gypsy Database (GyDB) of Mobile Genetic Elements: Release 2.0 Nucleic Acids Research (NARESE) 39 (suppl 1): D70-D74 doi: 10.1093/nar/gkq1061

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