LTR Retrotransposons Show Low Levels of Unequal Recombination and High Rates of Intraelement Gene Conversion in Large Plant Genomes.

ABSTRACT: The accumulation and removal of transposable elements (TEs) is a major driver of genome size evolution in eukaryotes. In plants, long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons (LTR-RTs) represent the majority of TEs and form most of the nuclear DNA in large genomes. Unequal recombination (UR) between LTRs leads to removal of intervening sequence and formation of solo-LTRs. UR is a major mechanism of LTR-RT removal in many angiosperms, but our understanding of LTR-RT-associated recombination within the large, LTR-RT-rich genomes of conifers is quite limited. We employ a novel read-based methodology to estimate the relative rates of LTR-RT-associated UR within the genomes of four conifer and seven angiosperm species. We found the lowest rates of UR in the largest genomes studied, conifers and t

SUBMITTER: Cossu RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5751070 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature