Abstract：RNA-mediated transposable elements that may encode reverse transcriptase are divided into two major groups-those containing long terminal repeats(LTRs) and those without them. The former,such as Gypsy-Ty3 family,Copia-Ty1 family and Pao element,may encode proteins necessary for replication and transposition of the element and usually contain three ORFs. The latter,such as I,F,G,Jockey,Doc and Het-A elements,may encode reverse transcriptase but are lack aspartic protease and intergrase. Recent researches about the major families of RNA-mediated transposable elements in insects are discussed in this paper.
