The impact of Ty3-<it>gypsy </it>group LTR retrotransposons <it>Fatima </it>on B-genome specificity of polyploid wheats

• Main Authors: Huneau Cecile, Belcram Harry, Shcherban Andrey B, Adonina Irina G, Sergeeva Ekaterina M, Salina Elena A, Chalhoub Boulos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2011-06-01
• Series: BMC Plant Biology
• Online Access: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/11/99

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Transposable elements (TEs) are a rapidly evolving fraction of the eukaryotic genomes and the main contributors to genome plasticity and divergence. Recently, occupation of the A- and D-genomes of allopolyploid wheat by specific TE families was demonstrated. Here, we investigated the impact of the well-represented family of <it>gypsy </it>LTR-retrotransposons, <it>Fatima</it>, on B-genome divergence of allopolyploid wheat using the fluorescent <it>in situ </it>hybridisation (FISH) method and phylogenetic analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>FISH analysis of a BAC clone (BAC_2383A24) initially screened with Spelt1 repeats demonstrated its predominant localisation to chromosomes of the B-genome and its putative diploid progenitor <it>Aegilops speltoides </it>in hexaploid (genomic formula, BBAADD) and tetraploid (genomic formula, BBAA) wheats as well as their diploid progenitors. Analysis of the complete BAC_2383A24 nucleotide sequence (113 605 bp) demonstrated that it contains 55.6% TEs, 0.9% subtelomeric tandem repeats (Spelt1), and five genes. LTR retrotransposons are predominant, representing 50.7% of the total nucleotide sequence. Three elements of the <it>gypsy </it>LTR retrotransposon family <it>Fatima </it>make up 47.2% of all the LTR retrotransposons in this BAC. <it>In situ </it>hybridisation of the <it>Fatima</it>_2383A24-3 subclone suggests that individual representatives of the <it>Fatima </it>family contribute to the majority of the B-genome specific FISH pattern for BAC_2383A24. Phylogenetic analysis of various <it>Fatima </it>elements available from databases in combination with the data on their insertion dates demonstrated that the <it>Fatima </it>elements fall into several groups. One of these groups, containing <it>Fatima</it>_2383A24-3, is more specific to the B-genome and proliferated around 0.5-2.5 MYA, prior to allopolyploid wheat formation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The B-genome specificity of the <it>gypsy</it>-like <it>Fatima</it>, as determined by FISH, is explained to a great degree by the appearance of a genome-specific element within this family for <it>Ae. speltoides</it>. Moreover, its proliferation mainly occurred in this diploid species before it entered into allopolyploidy.</p> <p>Most likely, this scenario of emergence and proliferation of the genome-specific variants of retroelements, mainly in the diploid species, is characteristic of the evolution of all three genomes of hexaploid wheat.</p>