26
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Transposable element evolution in Heliconius suggests genome diversity within Lepidoptera

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Background

          Transposable elements (TEs) have the potential to impact genome structure, function and evolution in profound ways. In order to understand the contribution of transposable elements (TEs) to Heliconius melpomene, we queried the H. melpomene draft sequence to identify repetitive sequences.

          Results

          We determined that TEs comprise ~25% of the genome. The predominant class of TEs (~12% of the genome) was the non-long terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposons, including a novel SINE family. However, this was only slightly higher than content derived from DNA transposons, which are diverse, with several families having mobilized in the recent past. Compared to the only other well-studied lepidopteran genome, Bombyx mori, H. melpomene exhibits a higher DNA transposon content and a distinct repertoire of retrotransposons. We also found that H. melpomene exhibits a high rate of TE turnover with few older elements accumulating in the genome.

          Conclusions

          Our analysis represents the first complete, de novo characterization of TE content in a butterfly genome and suggests that, while TEs are able to invade and multiply, TEs have an overall deleterious effect and/or that maintaining a small genome is advantageous. Our results also hint that analysis of additional lepidopteran genomes will reveal substantial TE diversity within the group.

          Related collections

          Most cited references24

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: not found
          • Article: not found

          HIV entry and its inhibition.

            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            Genetics: junk DNA as an evolutionary force.

              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Rolling-circle transposons in eukaryotes.

              All eukaryotic DNA transposons reported so far belong to a single category of elements transposed by the so-called "cut-and-paste" mechanism. Here, we report a previously unknown category of eukaryotic DNA transposons, Helitron, which transpose by rolling-circle replication. Autonomous Helitrons encode a 5'-to-3' DNA helicase and nuclease/ligase similar to those encoded by known rolling-circle replicons. Helitron-like transposons have conservative 5'-TC and CTRR-3' termini and do not have terminal inverted repeats. They contain 16- to 20-bp hairpins separated by 10--12 nucleotides from the 3'-end and transpose precisely between the 5'-A and T-3', with no modifications of the AT target sites. Together with their multiple diverged nonautonomous descendants, Helitrons constitute approximately 2% of both the Arabidopsis thaliana and Caenorhabditis elegans genomes and also colonize the Oriza sativa genome. Sequence conservation suggests that Helitrons continue to be transposed.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Mob DNA
                Mob DNA
                Mobile DNA
                BioMed Central
                1759-8753
                2013
                2 October 2013
                : 4
                : 21
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
                [2 ]Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi, MS 39762, USA
                [3 ]Department of Biological Sciences and Geology, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, New York, NY 11364, USA
                [4 ]Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
                [5 ]Current Address: Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
                Article
                1759-8753-4-21
                10.1186/1759-8753-4-21
                4016481
                24088337
                97c75d45-b10f-4745-b186-a8c28caaba2e
                Copyright © 2013 Lavoie et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 19 June 2013
                : 27 September 2013
                Categories
                Research

                Genetics
                heliconius melpomene,lepidopteran,butterfly,transposable elements,genomic deletions
                Genetics
                heliconius melpomene, lepidopteran, butterfly, transposable elements, genomic deletions

                Comments

                Comment on this article