Comparison of genomic fragment and clone sequences within a long interspersed repeated sequence of the mouse genome

The 393bp nucleotide sequence of a HindIII genomic fragment mapping within the major long interspersed repeated sequence family (MIF-1, Bam, L1) of mouse is reported and compared to clone sequences of the same region of this repeated sequence. The consensus of the clone sequences significantly differs from the genomic fragment sequence by additions and deletions that are inconsistent with the physical and biochemical properties of the genomic fragment. While alternative explanations could account for some of these differences, several aspects of the experimental results imply that cloning artifacts contribute to the discrepancies. Despite the differences between the clone and genomic fragment sequences, the biologically interesting features previously noted in clone sequences (promoter-like signals and an open reading frame) are conserved in the genomic fragment sequence.