PiggyBac Transposable Element Derived Protein 5 (PGBD5)

The piggyBac family of proteins, found in diverse animals, are transposases related to the transposase of the canonical piggyBac transposon from the moth, Trichoplusia ni. This family also includes genes in several genomes, including human, that appear to have been derived from the piggyBac transposons. PGBD5 belongs to the subfamily of piggyBac transposable element derived (PGBD) genes. The PGBD proteins appear to be novel, with no obvious relationship to other transposases, or other known protein families.PGBD5 is the most highly divergent of these human piggyBac -derived genes, and, remarkably, has acquired eight introns, roughly evenly spaced along the length of the gene, most of which are shared with both mouse and pufferfish orthologs.