Ancient endosymbiont‐mediated transmission of a selfish gene provides a model for overcoming barriers to gene transfer into animal mitochondrial genomes

In contrast to bilaterian animals, non‐bilaterian mitochondrial genomes contain atypical genes, often attributed to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) as an ad hoc explanation. Although prevalent in plants, HGT into animal mitochondrial genomes is rare, lacking suitable explanatory models for their occu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioEssays 2023-02, Vol.45 (2), p.e2200190-n/a
Main Authors: Shimpi, Gaurav G., Bentlage, Bastian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Corals
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA repair
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Domains
Endonuclease
endosymbiont gene transfer
Evolution, Molecular
Gene transfer
Gene Transfer, Horizontal - genetics
Genome, Mitochondrial - genetics
Genomes
giant viruses
Homing
Homing endonuclease
horizontal gene transfer
Horizontal transfer
Literature reviews
Mitochondria
Mitochondria - genetics
Mitochondrial DNA
mitochondrial genome
mtMutS
octocorals
Phycodnaviridae
Phylogeny
Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics
Viruses
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:In contrast to bilaterian animals, non‐bilaterian mitochondrial genomes contain atypical genes, often attributed to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) as an ad hoc explanation. Although prevalent in plants, HGT into animal mitochondrial genomes is rare, lacking suitable explanatory models for their occurrence. HGT of the mismatch DNA repair gene (mtMutS) from giant viruses to octocoral (soft corals and their kin) mitochondrial genomes provides a model for how barriers to HGT to animal mitochondria may be overcome. A review of the available literature suggests that this HGT was mediated by an alveolate endosymbiont infected with a lysogenic phycodnavirus that enabled insertion of the homing endonuclease containing mtMutS into octocoral mitochondrial genomes. We posit that homing endonuclease domains and similar selfish elements play a crucial role in such inter‐domain gene transfers. Understanding the role of selfish genetic elements in HGT has the potential to aid development of tools for manipulating animal mitochondrial DNA. Alveolate endosymbiont infected with lysogenic phycodnavirus was able to transfer mitochondrial DNA mismatch repair gene (mtMutS) to the octocoral mitochondrial genome. This ancient and rare horizontal gene transfer (HGT) event was facilitated by a selfish genetic element. The model presented here provides novel insights into the mechanisms of HGT into animal mitochondrial genomes.
ISSN:0265-9247
1521-1878
DOI:10.1002/bies.202200190