Transduplication resulted in the incorporation of two protein-coding sequences into the turmoil-1 transposable element of C. elegans

Biol Direct. 2008 Oct 8:3:41. doi: 10.1186/1745-6150-3-41.

Abstract

Transposable elements may acquire unrelated gene fragments into their sequences in a process called transduplication. Transduplication of protein-coding genes is common in plants, but is unknown of in animals. Here, we report that the Turmoil-1 transposable element in C. elegans has incorporated two protein-coding sequences into its inverted terminal repeat (ITR) sequences. The ITRs of Turmoil-1 contain a conserved RNA recognition motif (RRM) that originated from the rsp-2 gene and a fragment from the protein-coding region of the cpg-3 gene. We further report that an open reading frame specific to C. elegans may have been created as a result of a Turmoil-1 insertion. Mutations at the 5' splice site of this open reading frame may have reactivated the transduplicated RRM motif.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / enzymology
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cattle
  • DNA Transposable Elements / genetics*
  • Dogs
  • Gene Duplication*
  • Humans
  • Inverted Repeat Sequences / genetics
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Open Reading Frames / genetics*
  • Rabbits
  • Rats
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Terminal Repeat Sequences / genetics
  • Transposases / genetics

Substances

  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Transposases