Presence of murine intracisternal A particle-like sequences in various animal species

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Background: Intracisternal A-particles (IAPs) are transposable elements that encode the gag, prt, and pol genes between two long-terminal repeats (LTRs). IAPs are common in murine genomes, but little is known of their existence in other animal groups. Methods and Results: We investigated the existence of IAPs in various animal species using a set of primers for the gag gene of mouse IAPs with PCR. We detected highly homologous sequences to mouse IAPs in many of the samples, including those from invertebrates. There was no relationship between the sequences detected and the phylogenetic relationships of the animals. Conclusions: Our results suggest that IAP-like sequences are quite common in a wide range of animals. The inconsistency between the phylogenetic relationships and that of the IAP-like sequences supports the hypothesis that the sequence developed independently in each species.