title: Mobile Element Evolution Playing Jigsaw - SINEs in Gastropod and Bivalve Mollusks.
abstract: SINEs (Short INterspersed Elements) are widely distributed among eukaryotes. Some SINE families are organized in superfamilies characterized by a shared central domain. These central domains are conserved across species, classes, and even phyla. Here we report the identification of two novel such superfamilies in the genomes of gastropod and bivalve mollusks. The central conserved domain of the first superfamily is present in SINEs in Caenogastropoda and Vetigastropoda as well as in all four subclasses of Bivalvia. We designated the domain MESC (Romanian for MElc-snail and SCoica-mussel) because it appears to be restricted to snails and mussels. The second superfamily is restricted to Caenogastropoda. Its central conserved domain-Snail-is related to the Nin-DC domain. Furthermore, we provide evidence that a 40-bp subdomain of the SINE V-domain is conserved in SINEs in mollusks and arthropods. It is predicted to form a stable stem-loop structure that is preserved in the context of the overall SINE RNA secondary structure in invertebrates. Our analysis also recovered short retrotransposons with a Long INterspersed Element (LINE)-derived 5' end. These share the body and/or the tail with transfer RNA (tRNA)-derived SINEs within and across species. Finally, we identified CORE SINEs in gastropods and bivalves-extending the distribution range of this superfamily.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Present address: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Unit of Veterinary Protozoology, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Matetovici
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Present address: Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, DANDRITE, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Szilard
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sajgo
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ianc
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ochis
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bulzu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Octavian
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Popescu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania annette.damert@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Damert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000235:genetics*; D020084:Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020086:Short Interspersed Nucleotide Elements
keywords: Mollusca; SINE; retrotransposon