All eukaryotic DNA transposons reported so far belong to a single category
of elements transposed by the so-called "cut-and-paste" mechanism. Here, we
report a previously unknown category of eukaryotic DNA transposons, Helitr
on, which transpose by rolling-circle replication. Autonomous Helitrons enc
ode a 5 ' -to-3 ' DNA helicase and nuclease/ligase similar to those encoded
by known rolling-circle replicons. Helitron-like transposons have conserva
tive 5 ' -TC and CTRR-3 ' termini and do not have terminal inverted repeats
, They contain 16- to 20-bp hairpins separated by 10-12 nucleotides from th
e 3 ' -end and transpose precisely between the 5 ' -A and T-3 ', with no mo
difications of the AT target sites. Together with their multiple diverged n
onautonomous descendants, Helitrons constitute approximate to2% of both the
Arabidopsis thaliana and Caenorhabditis elegans genomes and also colonize
the Oriza sativa genome. Sequence conservation suggests that Helitrons cont
inue to be transposed.