Factors affecting the relative abundance of nuclear copies of mitochondrial DNA (numts) in hominoids.

ABSTRACT: Although nuclear copies of mitochondrial DNA (numts) can originate from any portion of the mitochondrial genome, evidence from humans suggests that more variable parts of the mitochondrial genome, such as the mitochondrial control region (MCR), are under-represented in the nucleus. This apparent deficit might arise from the erosion of sequence identity in numts originating from rapidly evolving mitochondrial sequences. However, the extent to which mitochondrial sequence properties impacts the number of numts detected in genomic surveys has not been evaluated. In order to address this question, we: (1) conducted exhaustive BLAST searches of MCR numts in three hominoid genomes; (2) assessed numt prevalence across the four MCR sub-domains (HV1, CCD, HV2, and MCR(F)); (3) estimated their inser

SUBMITTER: Soto-Calderon ID 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3508264 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature