Figure 4

Transpositional mobilization of three LTR-retrotransposons revealed by DNA-gel blotting. (a), (b) and (c) are hybridization patterns for Osr7, Tos17 and Osr23, respectively. For each element, a portion of the reverse transcriptase (RT) region was amplified by specific primers (listed in Additional file 4) and used as a probe against the same blot as used in Figure 2. Arrows indicate novel bands appeared in the mutant Tong211-LP or its S1 progenies relative to their rice parent Tong211, which are suggestive of de novo retrotranspositional events. Note that progeny #5 showed the most rampant retrotranspositions, as is also the case for mPing (Figure 2); in addition, loss of bands was evident for two retrotransposons (Osr7 and Tos17) in this individual, suggesting the occurrence of genomic rearrangements within or adjacent to each of the element copies.