A MITE insertion into the 3′-UTR regulates the transcription of TaHSP16.9 in common wheat

Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements(MITEs) are a type of DNA transposon frequently inserted into promoters, untranslated regions(UTR), introns, or coding sequences of genes. We found a 276-bp tourist-like MITE insertion in the 3′-UTR of a 16.9 k Da small heat shock protein gene(TaH SP16.9-3A) on chromosome 3A of common wheat. Haplotype analysis revealed two haplotypes, s HSP-W(wild type without MITE insertion) and s HSP-M(mutant with MITE insertion), present in wheat germplasm. Both semiquantitative PCR and quantitative real-time PCR analyses showed increased transcription levels of TaH SP16.9-3A in s HSP-M compared with those of s HSP-W after heat treatment at 42 °C. It appeared that the MITE insertion into the 3′-UTR enhances the transcription of TaH SP16.9-3A.