title: Bmmar1: a basal lineage of the mariner family of transposable elements in the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori.
abstract: We describe a transposable element, called Bmmar1, from the genome of the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori. This element has features of the Tc1-mariner superfamily of transposable elements. Bmmar1 was first detected as a fragment in the 5' region of the larval serum protein (BmLSP) gene. Six genomic clones characterized each differed from a consensus sequence by 3-5 insertions and deletions, as well as an average of 2.3% in nucleotide sequence. The genome contains approximately 2400 copies of Bmmar1. Maximum parsimony phylogenetic analysis of the relationship of Bmmar1 and other members of the Tc1-mariner superfamily, based on their encoded transposase amino acid sequences, indicates that it represents a basal lineage of the mariner family. In particular Bmmar1 encodes a D,D37D motif thought to be the catalytic domain of mariner transposases. Bmmar1 considerably increases the known diversity of this widespread family of transposons. A new naming system is proposed for members of the family.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Illinos, Urbana 61801, USA. hughrobe@uiuc.edu
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Asplund
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics*; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004247:DNA; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018628:Gene Dosage; D017344:Genes, Insect; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004247:DNA