title: P elements are found in the genomes of nematoceran insects of the genus Anopheles.
abstract: We report the identification of genomic sequences in various anopheline mosquitoes (family Culicidae: suborder Nematocera: order Diptera) showing homology to the class II, short inverted-terminal-repeat (ITR) transposable element P from Drosophila melanogaster (family Drosophilidae; suborder Brachycera: order Diptera). Anopheles gambiae appears to have at least six distinct P elements. Other anopheline species, including four additional members of the An. gambiae species complex (An. arabiensis, An. merus, An. melas and An. quadriannulatus), Anopheles stephensi (all subgenus Cellia), An. quadrimaculatus (subgenus Anopheles) and Anopheles albimanus (subgenus Nyssorhynchus) also possess P elements similar to those found in An. gambiae. Ten distinct P element types were identified in the genus Anopheles. At least two of the An. gambiae elements appears to be intact and potentially functional. Phylogenetic analysis of the anopheline P elements reveals them to belong to a distinctly different clade from the brachyceran P elements.
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical Disease Research and Training, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556-0369, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krzywinski
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements