title: Ty1-copia group retrotransposons and the evolution of retroelements in several angiosperm plants: evidence of horizontal transmission.
abstract: The phylogenetic relationships among thirty-seven new Ty1-copia group retrotransposons in seven angiosperm plants were examined by reverse transcriptase and ribonuclease H sequence analysis. Distribution pattern of the retrotransposons of closely related plant species generally reflects a close phylogenetic relationship. In contrast, we found that several retrotransposon sequences from the same genome exhibited a high degree of divergence and had a relatively high degree of identity versus retrotransposon sequences from widely divergent species, including an ancestral phytopathogen fungus. This finding supports the hypothesis that the horizontal transmission from phytopatogen organism to the host flowering plants could have played a role in the evolutionary dynamics of Ty1-copia group retrotransposons.
authors.affiliation: II University of Naples, Department of Life Science, via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasqualina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Woodrow
authors.forename: Loredana F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Ciarmiello
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fantaccione
authors.forename: Maria Grazia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Annunziata
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pontecorvo
authors.forename: Petronia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carillo