Abstract
Mobile elements known as LINEs are members of a superfamily of repeated DNA conserved from protozoa to man. These sequences propagate by the retrotranscription of RNA intermediates and differ in many respects from retroviruses. Whereas most eukaryotic genomes host a single LINE family, several families of LINE-like sequences or type II retrotransposons coexist in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Properties and features of these elements are discussed in this work.
