Evidence for transcription and potential translation of the human 1.9 kb HindIII repetitive element

Abstract

Recombinant cDNA clones corresponding to the human 1.9kb HindIII repetitive element have been isolated from a cDNA library of liver cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNA. These cDNAs share 95% homology with the reported genomic DNA sequence and a similar amount of homology at the amino acid level with putative coding sequences (see preceding article by Mottez et al). They were isolated as two of four false positives from a Human cDNA library in λgtll and were selected with an antibody to an unrelated enzyme. These results provide direct evidence that this repetitive element is transcribed to form poly(A)⁺ RNA which could be translatable. Also, these observations may add to our understanding of the sources of false positives which are frequently observed in screens of cDNA libraries with antibodies as probes.