Article Addendum

Horizontal SPINning of transposons

Volume 2, Issue 2   March/April 2009
Pages 117 - 119
Authors: Clément Gilbert, John K. Pace, II and Cédric Feschotte

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Abstract:

The term ‘horizontal transfer (HT)’ refers to the transfer of genetic material between two reproductively isolated organisms. HT is thought to occur rarely in eukaryotes compared to vertical inheritance, the transmission of DNA from parent to offspring. In a recent study we have provided evidence that a family of DNA transposons, called SPACE INVADERS or SPIN, independently invaded horizontally the genome of seven distantly related tetrapod species and subsequently amplified to high copy number in each of them. This discovery calls for further investigations to better characterize the extent to which genomes have been shaped through HT events. In this addendum, we briefly discuss some general issues regarding the study of HT and further speculate on the sequence of events that could explain the current taxonomic distribution of SPIN. We propose that the presence of SPIN in the opossum (Monodelphis domestica), a taxon endemic to South America, reflects a transoceanic HT event that occurred from Old to New World, between 46 and 15 million years ago.

Article Addendum to:
JK 2nd Pace, C Gilbert, MS Clark, C Feschotte. Repeated horizontal transfer of a DNA transposon in mammals and other tetrapods. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008; 105: 17023-8
PMID: 18936483 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0806548

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