Title

Evolutionary Analysis of a Large mtDNA Translocation (numt) into the Nuclear Genome of the Panthera Genus Species

Authors

Jae-Heup Kim, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Agostinho Antunes, National Cancer Institute at Frederick; Universidade do Porto
Shu-Jin Luo, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Joan C. Menninger, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
William G. Nash, H&W Cytogenetic Services, Inc.
Stephen J. O'Brien, National Cancer Institute at FrederickFollow
Warren E. Johnson, National Cancer Institute at Frederick

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-2006

Publication Title

Gene

Keywords

Big cats, Mitochondrial DNA, Nuclear insertion, Numt, Panthera genus, Pseudogene, Tiger

ISSN

0378-1119

Volume

366

Issue/No.

2

First Page

292

Last Page

302

Abstract

Translocation of cymtDNA into the nuclear genome, also referred to as numt, has been reported in many species, including several closely related to the domestic cat (Felis catus). We describe the recent transposition of 12,536 bp of the 17 kb mitochondrial genome into the nucleus of the common ancestor of the five Panthera genus species: tiger, P. tigris; snow leopard, P. uncia; jaguar, P. onca; leopard, P. pardus; and lion, P. leo. This nuclear integration, representing 74% of the mitochondrial genome, is one of the largest to be reported in eukaryotes. The Panthera genus numt differs from the numt previously described in the Felis genus in: (1) chromosomal location (F2—telomeric region vs. D2—centromeric region), (2) gene make up (from the ND5 to the ATP8 vs. from the CR to the COII), (3) size (12.5 vs. 7.9 kb), and (4) structure (single monomer vs. tandemly repeated in Felis). These distinctions indicate that the origin of this large numt fragment in the nuclear genome of the Panthera species is an independent insertion from that of the domestic cat lineage, which has been further supported by phylogenetic analyses. The tiger cymtDNA shared around 90% sequence identity with the homologous numt sequence, suggesting an origin for the Panthera numt at around 3.5 million years ago, prior to the radiation of the five extant Panthera species.

Comments

©2007 by the Genetics Society of America

Additional Comments

National Cancer Institute contract #: N01-CO-12400; GenBank accession #s: DQ095160–DQ095195

NSUWorks Citation

Kim, Jae-Heup; Agostinho Antunes; Shu-Jin Luo; Joan C. Menninger; William G. Nash; Stephen J. O'Brien; and Warren E. Johnson. 2006. "Evolutionary Analysis of a Large mtDNA Translocation (numt) into the Nuclear Genome of the Panthera Genus Species." Gene 366, (2): 292-302. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/549

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015