MRS, A NEW SUBFAMILY OF TOURIST TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENTS

We have characterised a new family of repetitive sequences that we hav e named Mrs (maize repetitive sequences). Mrs elements are associated with different maize genes and seem to be specific for the genome of Z ea species. Mrs elements are short, AT-rich and contain terminal inver ted repeats (TLRs). The sequence of their TIRs, as well as the fact th at they are flanked by short repetitions that tend to be TAA, allows u s to propose Mrs as a new subfamily of Tourist transposable elements.