Identification of two mariner-like elements in the genome of the mosquito Ochlerotatus atropalpus

Mosquito autogeny in Aedes caspius (Diptera: Culicidae): alterations of larval nourishments reservation upon bacterial infection

The present study recorded mosquito autogeny for the first time amongst Aedes caspius species in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Laboratory rearing showed an obligatory autogenous species of Ae. caspius since it foregoes blood feeding during its first ovarian cycle, even in the presence of the hosts (CD mouse), but produces its second egg batch only if ingested a blood meal. Both morphological and molecular identification confirmed that both autogenous and anautogenous strains belong to the same species of Ae. caspius. Data from biochemical analysis showed significant 2, 1.6, and 1.4 folds higher total carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids reserves respectively in the fourth larval instar of the autogenous strain compared to that of the anautogenous ones. In addition, exposing the fourth larval instars of autogenous strain to the infection stress by the mosquito larvicidal bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki has significantly reduced total carbohydrates, proteins and lipids reserves by 29%, 35%, and 46%, respectively, at 12 h postinfection compared to those of uninfected ones. These reductions in nourishment reserves were more pronounced at 24 h postinfection in the case of proteins and lipids, but not carbohydrates. These results may indicate that bacterial infection is a health stress that significantly reduced nourishments reservation, which may interrupt the success of adult autogeny. However, the impact of infection-induced decline in larval nourishments reservation on successful adult autogeny is still to be investigated.

Occurrence and abundance of a mariner-like element in freshwater and terrestrial planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from southern Brazil

Transposable elements are DNA sequences present in all the large phylogenetic groups, both capable of changing position within the genome and constituting a significant part of eukaryotic genomes. The mariner family of transposons is one of the few which occurs in a wide variety of taxonomic groups, including freshwater planarians. Nevertheless, so far only five planarian species have been reported to carry mariner-like elements (MLEs), although several different species have been investigated. Regarding the number of copies of MLEs, Girardia tigrina is the only planarian species in which this has been evaluated, with an estimation of 8,000 copies of the element per haploid genome. Preliminary results obtained in our laboratory demonstrated that MLE is found in a large number of different species of planarians, including terrestrial. With this in mind, the aim was to evaluate the occurrence and estimate the number of MLE copies in different planarian species collected in south Brazil. Twenty-eight individuals from 15 planarian species were analyzed. By using PCR and the hybridization of nucleic acids, it was found that MLE was present in all the analyzed species, the number of copies being high, probably over 10³ per haploid genome.

Mariner-like elements in Rhynchosciara americana (Sciaridae) genome: molecular and cytological aspects

Two mariner-like elements, Ramar1 and Ramar2, are described in the genome of Rhynchosciara americana, whose nucleotide consensus sequences were derived from multiple defective copies containing deletions, frame shifts and stop codons. Ramar1 contains several conserved amino acid blocks which were identified, including a specific D,D(34)D signature motif. Ramar2 is a defective mariner-like element, which contains a deletion overlapping in most of the internal region of the transposase ORF while its extremities remain intact. Predicted transposase sequences demonstrated that Ramar1 and Ramar2 phylogenetically present high identity to mariner-like elements of mauritiana subfamily. Southern blot analysis indicated that Ramar1 is widely represented in the genome of Rhynchosciara americana. In situ hybridizations showed Ramar1 localized in several chromosome regions, mainly in pericentromeric heterochromatin and their boundaries, while Ramar2 appeared as a single band in chromosome A.

Characterization of EamaT1, a member of maT family of transposable elements from the earthworm Eisenia andrei (Annelida, Oligochaeta)

The maT family is a unique clade within the Tc1-mariner superfamily, and their distribution is to date known as being limited to invertebrates. A novel transposon named EamaT1 is described from the genome of the earthworm Eisenia andrei. The full sized EamaT1 was obtained by degenerate and inverse PCR-based amplification. Sequence analysis of multiple copies of the EamaT1, which consisted of 0.9 and 1.4 kb elements, showed that the consensual EamaT1 with inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) of 69 bp was 1,422 bp long and flanked by a duplicated TA dinucleotide. The EamaT1 is present in approximately 120-250 copies per diploid genome but undergoes an inactivation process as a result of accumulating multiple mutations and is nonfunctional. The open reading frame (ORF) of the EamaT1 consensus encoding 356 amino acid sequences of transposase contained a DD37D signature and a conserved paired-like DNA binding motif for the transposition mechanism. The result of ITRs comparison confirmed their consensus terminal sequences (5'-CAGGGTG-3') and AT-rich region on the internal bases for ITRs-transposase interaction.

The mariner Transposons Belonging to the irritans Subfamily Were Maintained in Chordate Genomes by Vertical Transmission

Mariner-like elements (MLEs) belong to the Tc1-mariner superfamily of DNA transposons, which is very widespread in animal genomes. We report here the first complete description of a MLE, Xtmar1, within the genome of a poikilotherm vertebrate, the amphibian Xenopus tropicalis. A close relative, XlMLE, is also characterized within the genome of a sibling species, Xenopus laevis. The phylogenetic analysis of the relationships between MLE transposases reveals that Xtmar1 is closely related to Hsmar2 and Bytmar1 and that together they form a second distinct lineage of the irritans subfamily. All members of this lineage are also characterized by the 36- to 43-bp size of their imperfectly conserved inverted terminal repeats and by the -8-bp motif located at their outer extremity. Since XlMLE, Xlmar1, and Hsmar2 are present in species located at both extremities of the vertebrate evolutionary tree, we looked for MLE relatives belonging to the same subfamily in the available sequencing projects using the amino acid consensus sequence of the Hsmar2 transposase as an in silico probe. We found that irritans MLEs are present in chordate genomes including most craniates. This therefore suggests that these elements have been present within chordate genomes for 750 Myr and that the main way they have been maintained in these species has been via vertical transmission. The very small number of stochastic losses observed in the data available suggests that their inactivation during evolution has been very slow.