bilbo, a non-LTR retrotransposon of Drosophila subobscura: a clue to the evolution of LINE-like elements in Drosophila

We used the repetitive character of transposable elements to isolate a non-LTR retrotransposon in Drosophila subobscura. bilbo, as we have called it, has homology to TRIM and LOA elements. Sequence analysis showed a 5' untranslated region (UTR), an open reading frame (ORF) with no RNA-binding domains, a downstream ORF that had structural homology to that of the I factor, and, finally, a 3' UTR which ended in several 5-nt repeats. The results of our phylogenetic and structural analyses shed light on the evolution of Drosophila non-LTR retrotransposons and support the hypothesis that an ancestor of these elements was structurally complex.