Bigfoot: a new family of MITE elements characterized from theMedicagogenus

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Abstract
We have characterized from the legume plant Medicagoa new family of miniature inverted‐repeat transposable elements (MITE), called the Bigfoot transposable elements. Two of these insertion elements are present only in a single allele of two different M. sativagenes. Using a PCR strategy we have isolated 19 other Bigfoot elements from the M. sativa and M. truncatula genomes. They differ from the previously characterized MITEs by their sequence, a target site of 9 bp and a partially clustered genomic distribution. In addition, we show that they exhibit a significantly stable secondary structure. These elements may represent up to 0.1% of the genome of the outcrossing Medicago sativa but are present at a reduced copy number in the genome of the autogamous M. truncatula plant, revealing major differences in the genome organization of these two plants.