Abstract
To investigate the recent transposition activity of T2 family miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) in Xenopus tropicalis (Western clawed frog), we analyzed the intraspecific polymorphisms associated with MITE insertion in X. tropicalis for three subfamilies of the T2 family (T2-A1, T2-C, and T2-E). A high frequency of MITE-insertion polymorphisms was observed at the T2-A1 (50%) and T2-C insertion loci (60%), but none were noted at the T2-E insertion locus (0%). Analyses of the collected data indicated that members of the T2-A1 and T2-C subfamilies may be currently active in the host species. Identification of these active transpositions will help us in understanding the mechanisms underlying the long-term survival (over several tens of millions of years) of the T2-A1 and T2-C subfamilies.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to express our gratitude to the National Bioresource Project, particularly to Dr. Yaoita and Dr. Kashiwagi (Center for Amphibian Biology, Hiroshima University) and Dr. Asashima and Dr. Takahashi (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo) for providing X. tropicalis strains. We thank the United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) for providing X. tropicalis genome data. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (Grant number 19651083 and 22570212).
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Communicated by S. Hohmann.
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Hikosaka, A., Nishimura, K., Hikosaka-Katayama, T. et al. Recent transposition activity of Xenopus T2 family miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements. Mol Genet Genomics 285, 219–224 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-010-0599-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-010-0599-3