Transposable Element Diversity Remains High in Gigantic Genomes. 2022

Ava Louise Haley, and Rachel Lockridge Mueller
Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1878, USA.

Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive sequences of DNA that replicate and proliferate throughout genomes. Taken together, all the TEs in a genome form a diverse community of sequences, which can be studied to draw conclusions about genome evolution. TE diversity can be measured using models for ecological community diversity that consider species richness and evenness. Several models predict TE diversity decreasing as genomes expand because of selection against ectopic recombination and/or competition among TEs to garner host replicative machinery and evade host silencing mechanisms. Salamanders have some of the largest vertebrate genomes and highest TE loads. Salamanders of the genus Plethodon, in particular, have genomes that range in size from 20 to 70 Gb. Here, we use Oxford Nanopore sequencing to generate low-coverage genomic sequences for four species of Plethodon that encompass two independent genome expansion events, one in the eastern clade (Plethodon cinereus, 29.3 Gb vs. Plethodon glutinosus, 38.9 Gb) and one in the western clade (Plethodon vehiculum, 46.4 Gb vs Plethodon idahoensis, 67.0 Gb). We classified the TEs in these genomes and found > 40 TE superfamilies, accounting for 22-27% of the genomes. We calculated Simpson's and Shannon's diversity indices to quantify overall TE diversity. In both pairwise comparisons, the diversity index values for the smaller and larger genome were almost identical. This result indicates that, when genomes reach extremely large sizes, they maintain high levels of TE diversity at the superfamily level, in contrast to predictions made by previous studies on smaller genomes.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D004251 DNA Transposable Elements Discrete segments of DNA which can excise and reintegrate to another site in the genome. Most are inactive, i.e., have not been found to exist outside the integrated state. DNA transposable elements include bacterial IS (insertion sequence) elements, Tn elements, the maize controlling elements Ac and Ds, Drosophila P, gypsy, and pogo elements, the human Tigger elements and the Tc and mariner elements which are found throughout the animal kingdom. DNA Insertion Elements,DNA Transposons,IS Elements,Insertion Sequence Elements,Tn Elements,Transposable Elements,Elements, Insertion Sequence,Sequence Elements, Insertion,DNA Insertion Element,DNA Transposable Element,DNA Transposon,Element, DNA Insertion,Element, DNA Transposable,Element, IS,Element, Insertion Sequence,Element, Tn,Element, Transposable,Elements, DNA Insertion,Elements, DNA Transposable,Elements, IS,Elements, Tn,Elements, Transposable,IS Element,Insertion Element, DNA,Insertion Elements, DNA,Insertion Sequence Element,Sequence Element, Insertion,Tn Element,Transposable Element,Transposable Element, DNA,Transposable Elements, DNA,Transposon, DNA,Transposons, DNA
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D014562 Urodela An order of the Amphibia class which includes salamanders and newts. They are characterized by usually having slim bodies and tails, four limbs of about equal size (except in Sirenidae), and a reduction in skull bones. Amphiuma,Caudata,Eel, Congo,Salamanders,Congo Eel,Congo Eels,Eels, Congo,Salamander
D014714 Vertebrates Animals having a vertebral column, members of the phylum Chordata, subphylum Craniata comprising mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. Vertebrate
D059014 High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing Techniques of nucleotide sequence analysis that increase the range, complexity, sensitivity, and accuracy of results by greatly increasing the scale of operations and thus the number of nucleotides, and the number of copies of each nucleotide sequenced. The sequencing may be done by analysis of the synthesis or ligation products, hybridization to preexisting sequences, etc. High-Throughput Sequencing,Illumina Sequencing,Ion Proton Sequencing,Ion Torrent Sequencing,Next-Generation Sequencing,Deep Sequencing,High-Throughput DNA Sequencing,High-Throughput RNA Sequencing,Massively-Parallel Sequencing,Pyrosequencing,DNA Sequencing, High-Throughput,High Throughput DNA Sequencing,High Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing,High Throughput RNA Sequencing,High Throughput Sequencing,Massively Parallel Sequencing,Next Generation Sequencing,Nucleotide Sequencing, High-Throughput,RNA Sequencing, High-Throughput,Sequencing, Deep,Sequencing, High-Throughput,Sequencing, High-Throughput DNA,Sequencing, High-Throughput Nucleotide,Sequencing, High-Throughput RNA,Sequencing, Illumina,Sequencing, Ion Proton,Sequencing, Ion Torrent,Sequencing, Massively-Parallel,Sequencing, Next-Generation
D019143 Evolution, Molecular The process of cumulative change at the level of DNA; RNA; and PROTEINS, over successive generations. Molecular Evolution,Genetic Evolution,Evolution, Genetic
D023281 Genomics The systematic study of the complete DNA sequences (GENOME) of organisms. Included is construction of complete genetic, physical, and transcript maps, and the analysis of this structural genomic information on a global scale such as in GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES. Functional Genomics,Structural Genomics,Comparative Genomics,Genomics, Comparative,Genomics, Functional,Genomics, Structural

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