Bigfoot. a new family of MITE elements characterized from the Medicago genus.
We have characterized from the legume plant Medicago a new family of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITE), called the Bigfoot transposable elements. Two of these insertion elements are present only in a single allele of two different M. sativa genes. Using a PCR strategy we have isolated 19 other Bigfoot elements from the M. sativa and M. truncatula genomes. They differ from the previously characterized MITEs by their sequence, a target site of 9 bp and a partially clustered genomic distribution. In addition, we show that they exhibit a significantly stable secondary structure. These elements may represent up to 0.1% of the genome of the outcrossing Medicago sativa but are present at a reduced copy number in the genome of the autogamous M. truncatula plant, revealing major differences in the genome organization of these two plants.
Institut des Sciences Végétales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gifsur-Yvette, France.
B
B
Charrier
F
F
Foucher
E
E
Kondorosi
Y
Y
d'Aubenton-Carafa
C
C
Thermes
A
A
Kondorosi
P
P
Ratet
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D018745:Genome, Plant; D000455:Medicago sativa / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; C120285:Msbf1 protein, Medicago sativa; C120286:Msbf2 protein, Medicago sativa; D010940:Plant Proteins