Molecular Biology of Maize Ac/Ds Elements: An Overview

Maize
Activator
(
Ac
) is one of the prototype transposable elements of the hAT transposon superfamily, members of which were identified in plants, fungi, and animals. The autonomous
Ac
and nonautonomous
Dissociation
(
Ds
) elements are mobilized by the single transposase protein encoded by
Ac
. To date
Ac
/
Ds
transposons were shown to be functional in approximately 20 plant species and have become the most widely used transposable elements for gene tagging and functional genomics approaches in plants. In this chapter we review the biology, regulation, and transposition mechanism of
Ac
/
Ds
elements in maize and heterologous plants. We discuss the parameters that are known to influence the functionality and transposition efficiency of
Ac
/
Ds
transposons and need to be considered when designing
Ac
transposase expression constructs and
Ds
elements for application in heterologous plant species.