Giant Starship Elements Mobilize Accessory Genes in Fungal Genomes.

ABSTRACT: Accessory genes are variably present among members of a species and are a reservoir of adaptive functions. In bacteria, differences in gene distributions among individuals largely result from mobile elements that acquire and disperse accessory genes as cargo. In contrast, the impact of cargo-carrying elements on eukaryotic evolution remains largely unknown. Here, we show that variation in genome content within multiple fungal species is facilitated by Starships, a newly discovered group of massive mobile elements that are 110 kb long on average, share conserved components, and carry diverse arrays of accessory genes. We identified hundreds of Starship-like regions across every major class of filamentous Ascomycetes, including 28 distinct Starships that range from 27 to 393 kb and last shar

SUBMITTER: Gluck-Thaler E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9156397 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature