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    Genome structure of bdelloid rotifers : shaped by asexuality or desiccation?

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    JHeredity2010.pdf (429.6Kb)
    Date
    2010-01
    Author
    Gladyshev, Eugene A.  Concept link
    Arkhipova, Irina R.  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3967
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esq008
    Keyword
     Ancient asexuals; Anhydrobiosis; Transposable elements; Mobile DNA; Horizontal gene transfer 
    Abstract
    Bdelloid rotifers are microscopic invertebrate animals best known for their ancient asexuality and the ability to survive desiccation at any life stage. Both factors are expected to have a profound influence on their genome structure. Recent molecular studies demonstrated that, while the gene-rich regions of bdelloid genomes are organized as co-linear pairs of closely related sequences and depleted in repetitive DNA, subtelomeric regions harbor diverse transposable elements and horizontally acquired genes of foreign origin. While asexuality is expected to result in depletion of deleterious transposons, only desiccation appears to have the power to produce all of the uncovered genomic peculiarities. Repair of desiccation-induced DNA damage would require the presence of a homologous template, maintaining co-linear pairs in gene-rich regions, and selecting against insertion of repetitive DNA which might cause chromosomal rearrangements. Desiccation may also induce a transient state of competence in recovering animals, allowing them to acquire environmental DNA. Even if bdelloids engage in rare or obscure forms of sexual reproduction, all these features could still be present. The relative contribution of asexuality and desiccation to genome organization may be clarified by analyzing whole-genome sequences and comparing foreign gene and transposon content in species which lost the ability to survive desiccation.
    Description
    Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Heredity 101 (2010): S85-S93, doi:10.1093/jhered/esq008.
    Collections
    • Josephine Bay Paul Center in Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution
    Suggested Citation
    Preprint: Gladyshev, Eugene A., Arkhipova, Irina R., "Genome structure of bdelloid rotifers : shaped by asexuality or desiccation?", 2010-01, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esq008, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3967
     

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