Recent amplification of the kangaroo endogenous retrovirus, KERV, limited to the centromere.

Mammalian retrotransposons, transposable elements that are processed through an RNA intermediate, are categorized as short interspersed elements (SINEs), long interspersed elements (LINEs), and long terminal repeat (LTR) retroelements, which include endogenous retroviruses. The ability of transposable elements to autonomously amplify led to their initial characterization as selfish or junk DNA; however, it is now known that they may acquire specific cellular functions in a genome and are implicated in host defense mechanisms as well as in genome evolution. Interactions between classes of transposable elements may exert a markedly different and potentially more significant effect on a genome than interactions between members of a single class of transposable elements.

A new class of retroviral and satellite encoded small RNAs emanates from mammalian centromeres.

The transcriptional framework of the eukaryotic centromere core has been described in budding yeast and rice, but for most eukaryotes and all vertebrates it remains largely unknown. The lack of large pericentric repeats in the tammar wallaby has made it possible to map and identify the transcriptional units at the centromere in a mammalian species for the first time. We show that these transcriptional units, comprised of satellites and a retrovirus, are bound by centromere proteins and that they are the source of a novel class of small RNA.

Genomic imprinting of IGF2 in marsupials is methylation dependent.

Background: Parent-specific methylation of specific CpG residues is critical to imprinting in eutherian mammals, but its importance to imprinting in marsupials and, thus, the evolutionary origins of the imprinting mechanism have been the subject of controversy. This has been particularly true for the imprinted Insulin-like Growth Factor II (IGF2), a key regulator of embryonic growth in vertebrates and a focal point of the selective forces leading to genomic imprinting. The presence of the essential imprinting effector, DNMT3L, in marsupial genomes and the demonstration of a differentially methylated region (DMR) in the retrotransposon-derived imprinted gene, PEG10, in tammar wallaby argue for a role for methylation in imprinting, but several studies have found no evidence of parent-specific methylation at other imprinted loci in marsupials.

Genomic instability within centromeres of interspecific marsupial hybrids.

Several lines of evidence suggest that, within a lineage, particular genomic regions are subject to instability that can lead to specific types of chromosome rearrangements important in species incompatibility. Within family Macropodidae (kangaroos, wallabies, bettongs, and potoroos), which exhibit recent and extensive karyotypic evolution, rearrangements involve chiefly the centromere. We propose that centromeres are the primary target for destabilization in cases of genomic instability, such as interspecific hybridization, and participate in the formation of novel chromosome rearrangements.

Species-specific shifts in centromere sequence composition are coincident with breakpoint reuse in karyotypically divergent lineages.

Background: It has been hypothesized that rapid divergence in centromere sequences accompanies rapid karyotypic change during speciation. However, the reuse of breakpoints coincident with centromeres in the evolution of divergent karyotypes poses a potential paradox. In distantly related species where the same centromere breakpoints are used in the independent derivation of karyotypes, centromere-specific sequences may undergo convergent evolution rather than rapid sequence divergence.

Ancient and continuing Darwinian selection on insulin-like growth factor II in placental fishes.

Despite abundant examples of both adaptation at the level of phenotype and Darwinian selection at the level of genes, correlations between these two processes are notoriously difficult to identify. Positive Darwinian selection on genes is most easily discerned in cases of genetic conflict, when antagonistic evolutionary processes such as a Red Queen race drive the rate of nonsynonymous substitution above the neutral mutation rate. Genomic imprinting in mammals is thought to be the product of antagonistic evolution coincident with evolution of the placenta, but imprinted loci lack evidence of positive selection likely because of the ancient origin of viviparity in mammals.

Cytogenetic and molecular evaluation of centromere-associated DNA sequences from a marsupial (Macropodidae: Macropus rufogriseus) X chromosome.

The constitution of the centromeric portions of the sex chromosomes of the red-necked wallaby, Macropus rufogriseus (family Macropodidae, subfamily Macropodinae), was investigated to develop an overview of the sequence composition of centromeres in a marsupial genome that harbors large amounts of centric and pericentric heterochromatin. The large, C-band-positive centromeric region of the X chromosome was microdissected and the isolated DNA was microcloned. Further sequence and cytogenetic analyses of three representative clones show that all chromosomes in this species carry a 178-bp satellite sequence containing a CENP-B DNA binding domain (CENP-B box) shown herein to selectively bind marsupial CENP-B protein.