A Helitron transposon reconstructed from bats reveals a novel mechanism of genome shuffling in eukaryotes

Ivana Grabundzija, Simon A. Messing, Jainy Thomas, Rachel L. Cosby, Ilija Bilic, Csaba Miskey, Andreas Gogol-Döring, Vladimir Kapitonov, Tanja Diem, Anna Dalda, Jerzy Jurka, Ellen J. Pritham, Fred Dyda, Zsuzsanna Izsvák and Zoltán Ivics ()
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Ivana Grabundzija: Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Simon A. Messing: Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Jainy Thomas: University of Utah
Rachel L. Cosby: University of Utah
Ilija Bilic: Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Csaba Miskey: Paul Ehrlich Institute
Andreas Gogol-Döring: German Center of Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)
Vladimir Kapitonov: Genetic Information Research Institute
Tanja Diem: Paul Ehrlich Institute
Anna Dalda: Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Jerzy Jurka: Genetic Information Research Institute
Ellen J. Pritham: University of Utah
Fred Dyda: Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Zsuzsanna Izsvák: Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Zoltán Ivics: Paul Ehrlich Institute

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Helitron transposons capture and mobilize gene fragments in eukaryotes, but experimental evidence for their transposition is lacking in the absence of an isolated active element. Here we reconstruct Helraiser, an ancient element from the bat genome, and use this transposon as an experimental tool to unravel the mechanism of Helitron transposition. A hairpin close to the 3′-end of the transposon functions as a transposition terminator. However, the 3′-end can be bypassed by the transposase, resulting in transduction of flanking sequences to new genomic locations. Helraiser transposition generates covalently closed circular intermediates, suggestive of a replicative transposition mechanism, which provides a powerful means to disseminate captured transcriptional regulatory signals across the genome. Indeed, we document the generation of novel transcripts by Helitron promoter capture both experimentally and by transcriptome analysis in bats. Our results provide mechanistic insight into Helitron transposition, and its impact on diversification of gene function by genome shuffling.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms10716

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10716

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