title: Insights on genome size evolution from a miniature inverted repeat transposon driving a satellite DNA.
abstract: The genome size in eukaryotes does not correlate well with the number of genes they contain. We can observe this so-called C-value paradox in amphibian species. By analyzing an amphibian genome we asked how repetitive DNA can impact genome size and architecture. We describe here our discovery of a Tc1/mariner miniature inverted-repeat transposon family present in Xenopus frogs. These transposons named miDNA4 are unique since they contain a satellite DNA motif. We found that miDNA4 measured 331 bp, contained 25 bp long inverted terminal repeat sequences and a sequence motif of 119 bp present as a unique copy or as an array of 2-47 copies. We characterized the structure, dynamics, impact and evolution of the miDNA4 family and its satellite DNA in Xenopus frog genomes. This led us to propose a model for the evolution of these two repeated sequences and how they can synergize to increase genome size.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology, CNRS, Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne, Bâtiment 3, Genopole® campus 3, 1, rue Pierre Fontaine, F-91058 Evry, France.
authors.forename: Thibault
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Scalvenzi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology, CNRS, Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne, Bâtiment 3, Genopole® campus 3, 1, rue Pierre Fontaine, F-91058 Evry, France. Electronic address: Nicolas.Pollet@issb.genopole.fr.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pollet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D059646:Genome Size; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014981:Xenopus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004276:DNA, Satellite
keywords: Amphibian; Genome; Miniature inverted repeat; Satellite DNA; Tc1/mariner; Transposon