Daidara : A gigantic Gypsy   LTR retrotransposon lineage in the springtail Allacma fusca genome

Long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are the major contributor to genome size expansion, as in the cases of the maize genome or the axolotl genome. Despite their impact on the genome size, the length of each retrotransposon is limited, compared to DNA transposons, which sometimes exceed over...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genes to cells : devoted to molecular & cellular mechanisms 2023-10, Vol.28 (10), p.746-752
Main Author: Kojima, Kenji K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are the major contributor to genome size expansion, as in the cases of the maize genome or the axolotl genome. Despite their impact on the genome size, the length of each retrotransposon is limited, compared to DNA transposons, which sometimes exceed over 100 kb. The longest LTR retrotransposon known to date is Burro‐1 from the planarian Schmidtea medierranea , which is around 35.7 kb long. Here through bioinformatics analysis, a new lineage of gigantic LTR retrotransposons, designated Daidara, is reported from the springtail Allacma fusca genome. Their entire length (25–33 kb) rivals Burro families, while their LTRs are shorter than 1.5 kb, in contrast to other gigantic LTR retrotransposon lineages Burro and Ogre , whose LTRs are around 5 kb long. Daidara encodes three core proteins corresponding to gag, pol, and an additional protein of unknown function. The phylogenetic analysis supports the independent gigantification of Daidara from Burro or Ogre .
ISSN:1356-9597
1365-2443
DOI:10.1111/gtc.13062