The maternal-effect, selfish genetic element Medea is associated with a composite Tc1 transposon.
Maternal-Effect Dominant Embryonic Arrest ("Medea") factors are selfish nuclear elements that combine maternal-lethal and zygotic-rescue activities to gain a postzygotic survival advantage. We show that Medea(1) activity in Tribolium castaneum is associated with a composite Tc1 transposon inserted just downstream of the neurotransmitter reuptake symporter bloated tubules (blot), whose Drosophila ortholog has both maternal and zygotic functions. The 21.5-kb insertion contains defective copies of elongation initiation factor-3, ATP synthase subunit C, and an RNaseD-related gene, as well as a potentially intact copy of a prokaryotic DUF1703 gene. Sequence comparisons suggest that the current distribution of Medea(1) reflects global emanation after a single transpositional event in recent evolutionary time. The Medea system in Tribolium represents an unusual type of intragenomic conflict and could provide a useful vehicle for driving desirable genes into populations.
Lorenzen
Marcé D
MD
United States Department of Agriculture, Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, Manhattan, KS 66502, USA.
Gnirke
Andreas
A
Margolis
Jonathan
J
Garnes
Jeffrey
J
Campbell
Margie
M
Stuart
Jeffrey J
JJ
Aggarwal
Rajat
R
Richards
Stephen
S
Park
Yoonseong
Y
Beeman
Richard W
RW
D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018628:Gene Dosage; D017344:Genes, Insect; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014231:Tribolium / Q000235:genetics*; D015053:Zygote
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements