The role of retrotransposons in gene family expansions: insights from the mouse Abp gene family.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Retrotransposons have been suggested to provide a substrate for non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) and thereby promote gene family expansion. Their precise role, however, is controversial. Here we ask whether retrotransposons contributed to the recent expansions of the Androgen-binding protein (Abp) gene families that occurred independently in the mouse and rat genomes.

Results

Using dot plot analysis, we found that the most recent duplication in the Abp region of the mouse genome is flanked by L1Md_T elements. Analysis of the sequence of these elements revealed breakpoints that are the relicts of the recombination that caused the duplication, confirming that the duplication arose as a result of NAHR using L1 elements as substrates. L1 and ERVII retrotran

SUBMITTER: Janousek V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3669608 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature