Distinct retroelement classes define evolutionary breakpoints demarcating sites of evolutionary novelty.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Large-scale genome rearrangements brought about by chromosome breaks underlie numerous inherited diseases, initiate or promote many cancers and are also associated with karyotype diversification during species evolution. Recent research has shown that these breakpoints are nonrandomly distributed throughout the mammalian genome and many, termed "evolutionary breakpoints" (EB), are specific genomic locations that are "reused" during karyotypic evolution. When the phylogenetic trajectory of orthologous chromosome segments is considered, many of these EB are coincident with ancient centromere activity as well as new centromere formation. While EB have been characterized as repeat-rich regions, it has not been determined whether specific sequences have been retained during e

SUBMITTER: Longo MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2736999 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature