Retrotransposon evolution in diverse plant genomes.
Retrotransposon or retrotransposon-like sequences have been reported to be conserved components of cereal centromeres. Here we show that the published sequences are derived from a single conventional Ty3-gypsy family or a nonautonomous derivative. Both autonomous and nonautonomous elements are likely to have colonized Poaceae centromeres at the time of a common ancestor but have been maintained since by active retrotransposition. The retrotransposon family is also present at a lower copy number in the Arabidopsis genome, where it shows less pronounced localization. The history of the family in the two types of genome provides an interesting contrast between "boom and bust" and persistent evolutionary patterns.
Langdon
T
T
Institute of Biological Science, University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3DD, United Kingdom.
Seago
C
C
Mende
M
M
Leggett
M
M
Thomas
H
H
Forster
J W
JW
Jones
R N
RN
Jenkins
G
G
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002503:Centromere / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018745:Genome, Plant; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018626:Retroelements / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D017931:DNA Primers; D018744:DNA, Plant; D018626:Retroelements