title: Non-concerted evolution of the RET76 satellite DNA family in Reticulitermes taxa (Insecta, Isoptera).
abstract: The evolutionary dynamics of satellite DNA is most often studied in canonical mating systems, where bisexuality and panmixis are the rule. In eusocial termites, the limited number of reproducers starting a new colony and the maintenance of the colony through few neotenics act as bottle-necks both in space and time. No data on repetitive DNA are available for Isoptera and for their peculiar reproductive strategy. Here we present the first satellite DNA family isolated in European Reticulitermes. RET76 is a G+C rich satellite embodying two sub-families with a 76 bp monomer. RET76 sequences are highly variable (sequence homology is lower than 80% within sub-families and lower than 68% in the entire family) and this variability is equally distributed among the eight analysed taxa, thus depicting a pattern of non-concerted evolution. The absence of variant fixation--together with the strict monomer length conservation--may be explained at the molecular level as due to functional constraints acting on these sequences, and/or at the organismic level by considering the involvement of eusociality in preventing or greatly reducing variant fixation, somehow mimicking an unisexual strategy.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126, Bologna, Italia.
authors.forename: Luchetti
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Andrea
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mantovani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D020049:Isoptera / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004276:DNA, Satellite