RT Journal Article
T1 Striking structural dynamism and nucleotide sequence variation of the transposon Galileo in the genome of Drosophila mojavensis
A1 Marzo, Mar
A1 Bello Paderne, Xabier
A1 Puig, Marta
A1 Maside Rodríguez, Xulio Manuel
A1 Ruiz, Alfredo
K1 Transposable element
K1 Drosophila mojavensis
K1 Evolution
K1 Terminal inverted repeat
K1 Phylogeny
K1 Genomics
AB BackgroundGalileo is a transposable element responsible for the generation of three chromosomal inversions in natural populations of Drosophila buzzatii. Although the most characteristic feature of Galileo is the long internally-repetitive terminal inverted repeats (TIRs), which resemble the Drosophila Foldback element, its transposase-coding sequence has led to its classification as a member of the P-element superfamily (Class II, subclass 1, TIR order). Furthermore, Galileo has a wide distribution in the genus Drosophila, since it has been found in 6 of the 12 Drosophila sequenced genomes. Among these species, D. mojavensis, the one closest to D. buzzatii, presented the highest diversity in sequence and structure of Galileo elements.ResultsIn the present work, we carried out a thorough search and annotation of all the Galileo copies present in the D. mojavensis sequenced genome. In our set of 170 Galileo copies we have detected 5 Galileo subfamilies (C, D, E, F, and X) with different structures ranging from nearly complete, to only 2 TIR or solo TIR copies. Finally, we have explored the structural and length variation of the Galileo copies that point out the relatively frequent rearrangements within and between Galileo elements. Different mechanisms responsible for these rearrangements are discussed.ConclusionsAlthough Galileo is a transposable element with an ancient history in the D. mojavensis genome, our data indicate a recent transpositional activity. Furthermore, the dynamism in sequence and structure, mainly affecting the TIRs, suggests an active exchange of sequences among the copies. This exchange could lead to new subfamilies of the transposon, which could be crucial for the long-term survival of the element in the genome.
PB BioMed Central
SN 1759-8753
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22999
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22999
LA eng
NO Marzo, M., Bello, X., Puig, M. et al. Striking structural dynamism and nucleotide sequence variation of the transposon Galileo in the genome of Drosophila mojavensis. Mobile DNA 4, 6 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1759-8753-4-6
NO This work was supported by a Formación de Personal Investigador doctoral fellowship (to M.M.) and Grant BFU2008-04988 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN, Spain) awarded to A.R.
DS Minerva
RD 30 abr 2026