A single-copy IS5-like transposon in the genome of a bdelloid rotifer
A single-copy IS5-like transposon in the genome of a bdelloid rotifer
Date
2009-05
Authors
Gladyshev, Eugene A.
Arkhipova, Irina R.
Arkhipova, Irina R.
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Keywords
Lateral/horizontal gene transfer
DNA transposons
Host factors
Adineta vaga
DNA transposons
Host factors
Adineta vaga
Abstract
In the course of sequencing telomeric chromosomal regions of the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga,
we encountered an unusual DNA transposon. Unlike other bdelloid and, more generally,
eukaryotic transposable elements (TEs), it exhibits similarity to prokaryotic insertion sequences
(IS). Phylogenetic analysis indicates that this transposon, named IS5_Av, is related to the ISL2
group of the IS5 family of bacterial IS elements. Despite the apparent intactness of the single
open reading frame coding for a DDE transposase and the perfect identity of its 213-bp terminal
inverted repeats (TIRs), the element is present in only one copy per diploid genome. It does not
exhibit any detectable levels of transcription, so that its transposase gene appears to be silent in
the bdelloid host. While horizontal transfers of TEs between kingdoms are not known to happen
in nature, it appears likely that IS5_Av underwent integration into the A. vaga genome relatively
recently, but was not successful in adapting to the new host and failed to increase in copy
number. Alternatively, it might be the only known member of a novel eukaryotic DNA TE
superfamily which is so rare that its other members, if any, have not yet been identified in
eukaryotic genomes sequenced to date.
Description
Author Posting. © The Authors, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Molecular Biology and Evolution 26 (2009): 1921-1929, doi:10.1093/molbev/msp104.