Insertion bias and purifying selection of retrotransposons in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Genome evolution and size variation in multicellular organisms are profoundly influenced by the activity of retrotransposons. In higher eukaryotes with compact genomes retrotransposons are found in lower copy numbers than in larger genomes, which could be due to either suppression of transposition or to elimination of insertions, and are non-randomly distributed along the chromosomes. The evolutionary mechanisms constraining retrotransposon copy number and chromosomal distribution are still poorly understood.

Results

I investigated the evolutionary dynamics of long terminal repeat (LTR)-retrotransposons in the compact Arabidopsis thaliana genome, using an automated method for obtaining genome-wide, age and physical distribution profiles for different groups of ele

SUBMITTER: Pereira V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC545599 | biostudies-literature | 2004

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature