Analysis of Tag1-like elements in Arabidopsis thaliana and their distribution in other plants

Analysis of genomic DNA of Arabidopsis Columbia (Col.) ecotype using a tran sposon Tag1-specific primer showed the presence of Tag1 homologues which wa s confirmed by Southern hybridization with a Tag1 probe. Further analysis s howed that the homologue, 0.75 kb in length, had inverted repeats at both e nds, 8-bp duplicated sequences at the site at which it is located and about 80% homology with Tag1, and was randomly distributed in the Arabidopsis ge nome. Based on these results, we concluded that these elements are non-auto nomous variants of Tag1 and we termed this element sTag1. Using the polymer ase chain reaction fragment hybridization technique, we found the distribut ion of such homologues in other plant species.