Mariner-like elements in hymenopteran species: insertion site and distribution.
Copies of mariner-like element (MLE) transposons in two species, the bumble bee, Bombus terrestris, and the ant, Myrmica ruginodis, were sequenced. The full-sized elements are 1250 bp long in both species and include 28-bp inverted terminal repeats. The five copies sequenced were approximately 75% similar to a mariner element (peach) of Drosophila mauritiana. The distribution of MLE in 27 hymenopteran species was studied by PCR and Southern blot hybridization; 93% of the species contained one or more of the four major forms of the element. They are inserted in their host genomes, in the middle of a degenerated 30-bp palindrome, which is itself located in an 85-bp conserved region with a purine-rich tail at one of its ends. The hymenopteran MLEs lie in a specific insertion site, suggesting that this region is conserved. It is thus possible that this region may be a selectively neutral insertion site, which would explain why these elements are widespread in hymenopteran genomes and are not eliminated by male haploidy.
Bigot
Y
Y
Institut de Biocénotique Expérimentale des Agrosystèmes, Faculté des Sciences, Parc Grandmont, Tours, France.
Hamelin
M H
MH
Capy
P
P
Periquet
G
G
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004247:DNA