[The Drosophila mobile element jockey, being a typical LINE, is transcribed from the internal promoter by RNA...

Two polyadenylated transcripts of the jockey are detected at different stages of Drosophila melanogaster ontogenesis and in the cell culture. They have the same length as complete and deleted copies of jockey and correspond to the DNA strand containing open reading frames coding for polypeptides which are homologous to retroviral RNA-(DNA)-binding proteins and to their reverse transcriptases. The results of the experiments, where transcription was inhibited with alpha-amanitin in vivo, indicate that jockey is transcribed by RNA polymerase II. The analysis of expression of CAT constructions made on the basis of jockey, and the detection of a fixed site for transcription initiation in jockey genomic and transfected copies have shown that jockey transcription is controlled by an internal promoter located not farther than 12 nucleotides from the beginning of the element. Such an inward location of the promoter allows it to be preserved in replication via reverse transcription and accounts for the distribution of jockey and probably other LINEs throughout the genome. This is the case of the first internal promoter described for RNA polymerase II. The comparison of starting sequences of LINEs in Drosophila makes it possible to detect core sequences of such a promoter.