Insertion and excision of Caenorhabditis elegans transposable element Tc1

Abstract

The transposable element Tc1 is responsible for most spontaneous mutations that occur in Caenorhabditis elegans variety Bergerac. We investigated the genetic and molecular properties of Tc1 transposition and excision. We show that Tc1 insertion into the unc-54 myosin heavy-chain gene was strongly site specific. The DNA sequences of independent Tc1 insertion sites were similar to each other, and we present a consensus sequence for Tc1 insertion that describes these similarities. We show that Tc1 excision was usually imprecise. Tc1 excision was imprecise in both germ line and somatic cells. Imprecise excision generated novel unc-54 alleles that had amino acid substitutions, amino acid insertions, and, in certain cases, probably altered mRNA splicing. The DNA sequences remaining after Tc1 somatic excision were the same as those remaining after germ line excision, but the frequency of somatic excision was at least 1,000-fold higher than that of germ line excision. The genetic properties of Tc1 excision, combined with the DNA sequences of the resulting unc-54 alleles, demonstrated that excision was dependent on Tc1 transposition functions in both germ line and somatic cells. Somatic excision was not regulated in the same strain-specific manner as germ-line excision was. In a genetic background where Tc1 transposition and excision in the germ line was not detectable, Tc1 excision in the soma still occurred at high frequency.