Recurrent recruitment of the THAP DNA-binding domain and molecular domestication of the P-transposable element.
The recently described THAP domain motif characterizes a DNA-binding domain (DBD) that is widely conserved in human and in animals. It presents a similarity with the DBD of the P element transposase of D. melanogaster. We show here that the P Drosophila neogenes derived from P-transposable elements conserve the THAP domain. Moreover, secondary rearrangements by exon shuffling indicate the recurrent recruitment of this domain by the host genome. As P sequences and THAP genes are found together in many animal genomes, we discuss the possibility that the THAP proteins have acquired their domain as a result of recurrent molecular domestication of P-transposable elements.
Quesneville
H
H
Laboratoire Dynamique du Génome et Evolution, Institut Jacques Monod, Universités Paris 6 et 7, Paris, France. hq@ccr.jussieu.fr
Nouaud
D
D
Anxolabehere
D
D
D000818:Animals; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000235:genetics
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins