Long interspersed L1 repeats in rabbit DNA are homologous to L1 repeats of rodents and primates in an open-reading-frame region

Determination of the DNA sequence of a cluster of repetitive elements located 3' to the rabbit beta-1 globin gene shows that previously identified B, E, and D repeats are linked to form a long repeat. The B and E regions are homologous to the L1 long interspersed repeats of primates and rodents. Thus L1 repeats are widely dispersed in several different mammalian orders. The sequence similarity among L1 repeats from three species is limited to a long segment that contains extensive open reading frames. This conserved region is followed by a highly divergent segment that corresponds to a 3' untranslated region. The conservation of sequences in the open-reading-frame region coupled with the divergence of the untranslated region supports the hypothesis that the L1 repeats are derived from transcripts of a functional gene that encodes a protein.