Retrotransposon accumulation and satellite amplification mediated by segmental duplication facilitate centromere expansion in rice.

ABSTRACT: The abundance of repetitive DNA varies greatly across centromeres within an individual or between different organisms. To shed light on the molecular mechanisms of centromere repeat proliferation, we performed structural analysis of LTR-retrotransposons, mostly centromere retrotransposons of rice (CRRs), and phylogenetic analysis of CentO satellite repeats harbored in the core region of the rice chromosome 4 centromere (CEN4). The data obtained demonstrate that the CRRs in the centromeric region we investigated have been enriched more significantly by recent rounds of segmental duplication than by original integration of active elements, suggesting that segmental duplication is an important process for CRR accumulation in the centromeric region. Our results also indicate that segmental dup

SUBMITTER: Ma J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1361721 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature