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Selections that isolate recombinant mitochondrial genomes in animals.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Ma, Hansong 
O'Farrell, Patrick H  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0011-2734

Abstract

Homologous recombination is widespread and catalyzes evolution. Nonetheless, its existence in animal mitochondrial DNA is questioned. We designed selections for recombination between co-resident mitochondrial genomes in various heteroplasmic Drosophila lines. In four experimental settings, recombinant genomes became the sole or dominant genome in the progeny. Thus, selection uncovers occurrence of homologous recombination in Drosophila mtDNA and documents its functional benefit. Double-strand breaks enhanced recombination in the germline and revealed somatic recombination. When the recombination partner was a diverged Drosophila melanogaster genome or a genome from a different species such as Drosophila yakuba, sequencing revealed long continuous stretches of exchange. In addition, the distribution of sequence polymorphisms in recombinants allowed us to map a selected trait to a particular region in the Drosophila mitochondrial genome. Thus, recombination can be harnessed to dissect function and evolution of mitochondrial genome.

Description

Keywords

D. melanogaster, cell biology, evolutionary biology, genomics, homologous recombination, mitochondrial DNA, selection for recombinant genomes, Animals, DNA, Mitochondrial, Drosophila melanogaster, Genome, Mitochondrial, Homologous Recombination, Selection, Genetic, Sequence Analysis, DNA

Journal Title

Elife

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2050-084X
2050-084X

Volume Title

4

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd