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MBE Advance Access published online on October 12, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msj034
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted August 31, 2005

Research Article

A Test of the Master Gene Hypothesis for Interspersed Repetitive DNA Sequences

Louise J. Johnson 1 and John F. Y. Brookfield 1*

1 Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
John F. Y. Brookfield, E-mail: john.brookfield{at}nottingham.ac.uk


  Abstract

Many families of interspersed repetitive DNA elements, including human Alu and LINE elements, have been proposed to have accumulated through repeated copying from a single source locus: the ‘master gene’. The extent to which a master gene model is applicable has implications for the origin, evolution and function of such sequences. One repetitive element family for which a convincing case for a master gene has been made is the rodent ID elements. Here we devise a new test of the master gene model, and use it to show that mouse ID element sequences are not compatible with a strict master gene model. We suggest that a single master gene is rarely, if ever, likely to be responsible for the accumulation of any repeat family.

Keywords: SINE; repetitive DNA; master gene; ID element; BC1.
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