Evidence for the Contribution of LTR Retrotransposons to C. elegans Gene Evolution

27 June 2003

journal article
Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Molecular Biology and Evolution

Vol. 20 (11) , 1925-1931
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msg200

Abstract

LTR retrotransposons may be important contributors to host gene evolution because they contain regulatory and coding signals. In an effort to assess the possible contribution of LTR retrotransposons to C. elegans gene evolution, we searched upstream and downstream of LTR retrotransposon sequences for the presence of predicted genes. Sixty-three percent of LTR retrotransposon sequences (79/124) are located within 1 kb of a gene or within gene boundaries. Most gene-retrotransposon associations were located along the chromosome arms. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that LTR retrotransposons have contributed to the structural and/or regulatory evolution of genes in C. elegans.

Keywords

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