Retroposition, a molecular mechanism generating new genes, helps the formation of retrogenes and new functions, contributing to the evolution of genomes. The completed genome sequence of Caenorhabditis sp. 5 presents an excellent opportunity to identify retrogenes within C. sp. 5. We identified a total of 43 retrogenes and their corresponding chimeric genes. Among these, 29 were found to be intact retrogenes and 14 to be retropseudogenes. Unexpectedly, a high number of retrogenes appear to be functional and possibly involved in catalysis. Also, the proportion of the retrogenes forming chimeric structure is the highest among Caenorhabditis nematodes. In addition, the Ks distribution shows that C. sp. 5 has more retrogenes with high Ks, which may explain the high functionality of them among Caenorhabditis species. Our study will be helpful in the understanding of the functional and evolutionary impact of retroposition on C. sp. 5 genome.
Keywords: Caenorhabditis sp. 5; chimeric genes; genome; gènes chimériques; génome; retrogenes; rétrogènes.