Analysis of retrotransposon structural diversity uncovers properties and propensities in angiosperm genome evolution.

ABSTRACT: Analysis of LTR retrotransposon structures in five diploid angiosperm genomes uncovered very different relative levels of different types of genomic diversity. All species exhibited recent LTR retrotransposon mobility and also high rates of DNA removal by unequal homologous recombination and illegitimate recombination. The larger plant genomes contained many LTR retrotransposon families with >10,000 copies per haploid genome, whereas the smaller genomes contained few or no LTR retrotransposon families with >1,000 copies, suggesting that this differential potential for retroelement amplification is a primary factor in angiosperm genome size variation. The average ratios of transition to transversion mutations (Ts/Tv) in diverging LTRs were >1.5 for each species studied, suggesting that thes

SUBMITTER: Vitte C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1693799 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature