Lineage-independent retrotransposition of UTP14 associated with male fertility has occurred multiple times throughout mammalian evolution.

ABSTRACT: In mammals, gamete production is essential for reproductive success. This is particularly true for males where large quantities of sperm are produced to fertilize a limited number of eggs released by the female. Because of this, new genes associated with increased spermatogenic efficiency have been accumulating throughout the evolution of therian mammals. Many of these new genes are testis-specific retrotransposed copies of housekeeping genes located on the X chromosome. Of particular interest are retrotransposed copies of UTP14 that are present in many distantly related eutherian mammals. Analysis of genomic data available in ENSEMBL indicates that these UTP14 retrogenes have arisen independently in the various eutherian clades. They represent an interesting aspect of evolution whereby ne

SUBMITTER: Rohozinski J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5750009 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature