Transposable element proliferation and genome expansion are rare in contemporary sunflower hybrid populations despite widespread transcriptional activity of LTR retrotransposons.

ABSTRACT: Hybridization is a natural phenomenon that has been linked in several organismal groups to transposable element derepression and copy number amplification. A noteworthy example involves three diploid annual sunflower species from North America that have arisen via ancient hybridization between the same two parental taxa, Helianthus annuus and H. petiolaris. The genomes of the hybrid species have undergone large-scale increases in genome size attributable to long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon proliferation. The parental species that gave rise to the hybrid taxa are widely distributed, often sympatric, and contemporary hybridization between them is common. Natural H. annuus × H. petiolaris hybrid populations likely served as source populations from which the hybrid species arose and,

SUBMITTER: Kawakami T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3048363 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature