title: Evolutionary history of the Azteca-like mariner transposons and their host ants.
abstract: Three different complete mariner elements were found in the genome of the ant Tapinoma nigerrimum. One (Tnigmar-Mr) was interrupted by a 900-bp insertion that corresponded to an incomplete member of a fourth mariner element, called Azteca. In this work, we isolate and characterize full-length Tnigmar-Az elements in T. nigerrimum. The purpose of this study is to clarify the evolutionary history of Azteca elements and their hosts as well as the possible existence of horizontal transfer processes. For this, Azteca-like elements were also retrieved from the available sequences of various ant genomes, representing four different ant subfamilies: Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, and Ponerinae. The tree topology resulting for the Azteca-like elements bore very little resemblance to that of their respective hosts. The pervasive presence of Azteca-like elements in all ant genomes, together with the observation that extant copies are usually younger than the genomes that host them, could be explained either by lineage sorting or by recent horizontal transfer of active elements. However, the finding of closer genetic relationships between elements than between the ants that host them is consistent with the latter scenario. This is clearly observed in Sinvmar-Az, Tnigmar-Az, Acepmar-Az, and Cflomar-Az elements, suggesting the existence of horizontal transfer processes. On the contrary, some elements displayed more divergence than did the hosts harboring them. This may reflect either further horizontal transfer events or random lineage sorting.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Experimental, Universidad de Jaén, 23071, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Palomeque
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sanllorente
authors.forename: Xulio
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Maside
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vela
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: María I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Periquet
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lorite
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D014644:Genetic Variation; D049750:Genome, Insect / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D019895:Transposases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C111652:mariner transposases; D019895:Transposases