A new basal subfamily of mariner elements in Ceratitis rosa and other tephritid flies

J Mol Evol. 2001 Dec;53(6):597-606. doi: 10.1007/s002390010246.

Abstract

Several copies of highly related transposable elements, Crmar2, Almar1, and Asmar1, are described from the genomes of Ceratitis rosa, Anastrepha ludens, and A. suspensa, respectively. One copy from C. rosa, Crmar2.5, contains a full-length, uninterrupted ORF. All the other copies, from the three species contain a long deletion within the putative ORF. The consensus Crmar2 element has features typical of the mariner/Tc1 superfamily of transposable elements. In particular, the Crmar2 consensus encodes a D,D41D motif, a variant of the D,D34D catalytic domain of mariner elements. Phylogenetic analysis of the relationships of these three elements and other members of the mariner/Tc1 superfamily, based on their encoded amino acid sequences, suggests that they form a new basal subfamily of mariner elements, the rosa subfamily. BLAST analyses identified sequences from other diptera, including Drosophila melanogaster, which appear to be members of the rosa subfamily of mariner elements. Analyses of their molecular evolution suggests that Crmar2 entered the genome of C. rosa in the recent past, a consequence of horizontal transfer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • DNA
  • DNA Transposable Elements*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics*
  • Diptera / genetics*
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Gene Transfer, Horizontal
  • Genome
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Transposases

Substances

  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • mariner transposases
  • DNA
  • Transposases