Comparative genome microsynteny illuminates the fast evolution of nuclear mitochondrial segments (NUMTs) in mammals.

ABSTRACT: The escape of DNA from mitochondria into the nuclear genome (nuclear mitochondrial DNA, NUMT) is an ongoing process. Although pervasively observed in eukaryotic genomes, their evolutionary trajectories in a mammal-wide context are poorly understood. The main challenge lies in the orthology assignment of NUMTs across species due to their fast evolution and chromosomal rearrangements over the past 200 million years. To address this issue, we systematically investigated the characteristics of NUMT insertions in 45 mammalian genomes, and established a novel, synteny-based method to accurately predict orthologous NUMTs and ascertain their evolution across mammals. With a series of comparative analyses across taxa, we revealed that NUMTs may originate from non-random regions in mtDNA, are likely

SUBMITTER: Uvizl M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10764098 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature