[1] In order to insert itself into the genome, retrotransposon encoded protein (R2) protein makes a specific nick in one of the DNA strands at the insertion site and uses the 3′ hydroxyl group exposed by this nick to prime the reverse transcription process termed target primed reverse transcription (TPRT), where the RNA genome is transcribed into DNA.

[3] An RNA fragment found in the R2 3' untranslated region (3'UTR), has been shown to interact with one copy of R2 protein during TPRT.

To become a fully mature R2 messenger RNA (mRNA), requires that the initial R2 transcript be processed to remove the 28S rRNA.

[4] The 5′ R2 protein binding site occurs in a region that spans part of the 5' UTR and the start of the R2 ORF.

Sequence comparisons show evidence for compensatory mutations within the helical regions indicating the secondary structure of the RNA is of biological importance.