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.
Charrier
B
B
Institut des Sciences Végétales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gifsur-Yvette, France.
Foucher
F
F
Kondorosi
E
E
d'Aubenton-Carafa
Y
Y
Thermes
C
C
Kondorosi
A
A
Ratet
P
P
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