Cloning and characterization of Acmar1, a mariner‐like element in the asiatic honey bee, Apis cerana japonica (Hymenoptera, Apocrita)

Abstract

A mariner-like element was cloned from the genome of the Asiatic honey bee, Apis cerana japonica (Hymenoptera, Apocrita). The (composite) clone, named Acmar1, was 1,378 bp long, and encoded 336 amino acids corresponding to a transposase-like putative polypeptide in a single open reading frame. The D,D(34)D motif, the catalytic domain of the mariner transposase, was present, although there was a deletion of five amino acid residues within it as compared with the active transposase in Drosophila mauritiana. Nineteen-bp-long imperfect inverted terminal repeat-like sequences flanked by TA dinucleotides, the typical target site for mariner insertion, were observed. Southern blot analysis using a fragment covering two-thirds of the Acmar1 transposase coding sequence as a probe indicated the presence of multiple Acmar1-like elements in the genome. Maximum-parsimony phylogenetic analysis based on the transposase amino acid sequences of insect mariner-like elements revealed that Acmar1 is a member of the mellifera subfamily.

Landscapes of transposable elements inApisspecies by meta-analysis

“…As shown in Fig. 6, the TIRs reported by Sumitani et al (2002) were identified in all six Apis species, and most parts of the sequences of transposase-coding regions (underlined in green) plus these TIRs were similar between Apis species. Furthermore, although several indels were detected between the A. cerana species (Acc, Ack, and Acj) and Am, Ad, and Af in TIRs flanking outer regions, most parts of the sequences in the regions were conserved between the species, suggesting that the MLE eventually settled in this region in these Apis species.…”

“…We searched long MLEs in the clade including multiple Apis MLEs that encode full-length transposases (sequences of more than 300 amino acids). We found Acc_MLE_100.p1, Acj_MLE_148.p1, and Ack_MLE_6.p1 in this clade and the sequences of these MLEs were identical, except for one residue, with 99% identity to “ Apis cerana Mariner transposase” in NCBI GenPept (Accession ID: BAB86288.1) (data not shown) (Sumitani et al 2002).…”

“…Nucleotide sites that are preserved or similar between multiple Apis species are shaded in black or gray. The TIR sites reported by Sumitani et al (2002) are shown in red boxes, and transposase-coding regions are underlined in green.…”

Detection of a mariner-like element and a miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) associated with the heterochromatin from ants of the genus Messor and their possible involvement for satellite DNA evolution

“…The putative transposase from S. invicta (Sinvmar1) contains five frameshifts and two stop codons, indicating that it is a defective copy (Krieger and Ross, 2003). Acmar1, a MLE from Apis cerana japonica (Hymenoptera, Apocrita) contained a sequence with the motif D,D(34)D but with a deletion of five amino-acid residues in the frame within the motif as compared to the corresponding sequence of D. mauritiana Mos1 (Sumitani et al, 2002). All the characteristics of the Mboumar elements analyzed appear to indicate that it is an active element; nevertheless, this needs to be confirmed by in vivo transposition assays or in vitro excision assays.…”

Molecular characterization of mariner‐like elements in emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera, Polyphaga)

“…Degenerate PCR primers based on the ITR sequences of other irritans subfamily members (Robertson and Lampe, 1995) were designed to obtain the full-length sequence of Apmar1. A similar method was used by Sumitami et al (2002) in Apis cerana, however, with no results. An earlier study (Bigot et al, 1994) reported the successful recovery of full-length mariner sequences from several hymenopteran members using PCR primers based on a consensus sequence of ITRs.…”