Revisiting the Tigger Transposon Evolution Revealing Extensive Involvement in the Shaping of Mammal Genomes
by
, and
Mohamed Diaby
1
,
Zhongxia Guan
1,
Shasha Shi
1,
Yatong Sang
2,
Saisai Wang
1,
Yali Wang
1,
Wencheng Zong
3,
Numan Ullah
1,
Bo Gao
1 and
Chengyi Song
1,*
1
College of Animal Science & Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
2
School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
3
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biology 2022, 11(6), 921; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11060921
Submission received: 5 May 2022
/
Revised: 8 June 2022
/
Accepted: 14 June 2022
/
Published: 16 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Section Bioinformatics)
Simple Summary
Despite the discovery of the Tigger family of pogo transposons in the mammalian genome, the evolution profile of this family is still incomplete. Here, we conducted a systematic evolution analysis for Tigger in nature. The data revealed that Tigger was found in a broad variety of animals, and extensive invasion of Tigger was observed in mammal genomes. Common horizontal transfer events of Tigger elements were observed across different lineages of animals, including mammals, that may have led to their widespread distribution, while parasites and invasive species may have promoted Tigger HT events. Our results also indicate that the activity of Tigger transposons tends to be low in vertebrates; only one mammalian genome and fish genome may harbor active Tigger.
Abstract
The data of this study revealed that Tigger was found in a wide variety of animal genomes, including 180 species from 36 orders of invertebrates and 145 species from 29 orders of vertebrates. An extensive invasion of Tigger was observed in mammals, with a high copy number. Almost 61% of those species contain more than 50 copies of Tigger; however, 46% harbor intact Tigger elements, although the number of these intact elements is very low. Common HT events of Tigger elements were discovered across different lineages of animals, including mammals, that may have led to their widespread distribution, whereas Helogale parvula and arthropods may have aided Tigger HT incidences. The activity of Tigger seems to be low in the kingdom of animals, most copies were truncated in the mammal genomes and lost their transposition activity, and Tigger transposons only display signs of recent and current activities in a few species of animals. The findings suggest that the Tigger family is important in structuring mammal genomes.
Keywords:
transposons; pogo; Tigger; evolution; horizontal transfer
