Whole genome comparative analysis of transposable elements provides new insight into mechanisms of their inactivation in fungal genomes

Joelle J. Amselem (1, 2) , Marc-Henri Lebrun (1) , Hadi Quesneville (2)

1 BIOGER - BIOlogie et GEstion des Risques en agriculture
2 URGI - Unité de Recherche Génomique Info

We identified fungal genomes containing large numbers of TEs with many C to T mutations associated with species-specific dinucleotide signatures. This bias suggests that a basic defense mechanism against TE invasion similar to RIP is widespread in fungi, although the efficiency and specificity of this mechanism differs between species. Our analysis revealed that dinucleotide signatures are associated with the presence/absence of specific Dnmt1 subfamilies. In particular, an RID1-dependent RIP mechanism was found only in Ascomycota.

Mots clés: Repeat induced point mutation; Fungi; Transposable elements; Bioinformatique; C5-methyltransferase

Domaines: Bio-informatique [q-bio.QM]

Joelle J. Amselem, Marc-Henri Lebrun, Hadi Quesneville. Whole genome comparative analysis of transposable elements provides new insight into mechanisms of their inactivation in fungal genomes. BMC Genomics, 2015, 16 (1), pp.141. ⟨10.1186/s12864-015-1347-1⟩. ⟨hal-01142763⟩