Source gene composition and gene conversion of the AluYh and AluYi lineages of retrotransposons

Abstract Background Alu elements are a family of SINE retrotransposons in primates. They are classified into subfamilies according to specific diagnostic mutations from the general Alu consensus. It is now believed that there may be several retrotranspositionally-competent source genes within an Alu subfamily. In this study, subfamilies falling on the AluYi and AluYh lineages, and the AluYg6 subfamily, are assessed for the presence of secondary source genes, and the influence of gene conversion on the AluYh and AluYi lineages is also described. Results The AluYh7 and AluYi6 subfamilies appear to contain multiple source genes. The novel subfamilies AluYh3a1 and AluYh3a3 are described, for which there is no convincing evidence to suggest the presence of secondary sources. The mutational substructure of AluYh3a3 can be explained completely by inference of single master gene. A complete backwards gene conversion event appears to have inactivated the AluYh3a3 master gene in humans. Polymorphism data suggest a larger number of secondary source elements may be active in the AluYg6 family than previously thought. Conclusion It is clear that there is considerable variation in the number of source genes present in each of the young Alu subfamilies. This can range from a single master source gene, as for AluYh3a3, to as many as 14 source elements in AluYi6.</p

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes exhibit decreased repellency by DEET following previous exposure.

DEET (N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide) is one of the most widely used mosquito repellents. Although DEET has been shown to be extremely effective, recent studies have revealed that certain individual insects are unaffected by its presence. A genetic basis for this has been shown in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, but, for the triatomine bug, Rhodnius prolixus, a decrease in response to DEET occurred shortly after previous exposure, indicating that non-genetic factors may also be involved in DEET "insensitivity". In this study, we examined host-seeking behaviour and electrophysiological responses of A. aegypti after pre-exposure to DEET. We found that three hours after pre-exposure the mosquitoes showed behavioural insensitivity, and electroantennography revealed this correlated with the olfactory receptor neurons responding less to DEET. The change in behaviour as a result of pre-exposure to DEET has implications for the use of repellents and the ability of mosquitoes to overcome them

Posters associated with "The Diversity of Class II Transposable Elements in Mammalian Genomes Has Arisen from Ancestral Phylogenetic Splits during Ancient Waves of Proliferation through the Genome"

Posters presented at the Society of Molecular Biology & Evolution conference 2012 and European Conference on Computational Biology 2012 presenting data from the following paper:<div><br></div><div>Elizabeth H.B. Hellen, John F.Y. Brookfield (2013) The Diversity of Class II Transposable Elements in Mammalian Genomes Has Arisen from Ancestral Phylogenetic Splits during Ancient Waves of Proliferation through the Genome. Mol Biol Evol. 30 (1), p 100-108. doi: 10.1093/molbev/mss206<br></div

Alignment of the chimpanzee AluYg6 sequence (DH1) and the human AluYg6 consensus

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Analysis of the features and source gene composition of the AluYg6 subfamily of human retrotransposons"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/7/102</p><p>BMC Evolutionary Biology 2007;7():102-102.</p><p>Published online 1 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC1925064.</p><p></p

Poster associated with "Alu elements in primates are preferentially lost from areas of high GC content"

Poster presented at Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution Conference 2013 presenting research published in the following paper:<div><br></div><div>Hellen EH, Brookfield JF. (2013) Alu elements in primates are preferentially lost from areas of high GC content. PeerJ 1:e78 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.78<br></div

Analysis of the features and source gene composition of the AluYg6 subfamily of human retrotransposons-2

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Analysis of the features and source gene composition of the AluYg6 subfamily of human retrotransposons"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/7/102</p><p>BMC Evolutionary Biology 2007;7():102-102.</p><p>Published online 1 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC1925064.</p><p></p>s of the other five previously unreported complete gene conversions see Additional files , , , , . Alignments were performed with ClustalW using default settings, following by manual editing