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Are the TTAGG and TTAGGG telomeric repeats phylogenetically conserved in aculeate Hymenoptera?

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Abstract

Despite the (TTAGG)n telomeric repeat supposed being the ancestral DNA motif of telomeres in insects, it was repeatedly lost within some insect orders. Notably, parasitoid hymenopterans and the social wasp Metapolybia decorata (Gribodo) lack the (TTAGG)n sequence, but in other representatives of Hymenoptera, this motif was noticed, such as different ant species and the honeybee. These findings raise the question of whether the insect telomeric repeat is or not phylogenetically predominant in Hymenoptera. Thus, we evaluated the occurrence of both the (TTAGG)n sequence and the vertebrate telomere sequence (TTAGGG)n using dot-blotting hybridization in 25 aculeate species of Hymenoptera. Our results revealed the absence of (TTAGG)n sequence in all tested species, elevating the number of hymenopteran families lacking this telomeric sequence to 13 out of the 15 tested families so far. The (TTAGGG)n was not observed in any tested species. Based on our data and compiled information, we suggest that the (TTAGG)n sequence was putatively lost in the ancestor of Apocrita with at least two subsequent independent regains (in Formicidae and Apidae).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Alexandre Somavilla, Dayana Cunha, and Marcel Hermes for kindly contributing with specimens used in this study; José Amilcar Tavares Filho for assistance in the field and Rodrigo M. Feitosa for discussion on the phylogeny of ants. We thank the four anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve the manuscript.

Funding

RSTM is thankful to São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) by grants 2015/02432-0 and 2016/21098-7; VBB was benefited by PNPD/Capes scholarship; DCCM was benefited by a research productivity fellowship from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq (process number 304758/2014-0); DAAL is funded by a FAPESP scholarship (no. 2015/12326-3); and EABA is grateful for funding by FAPESP (grant no. 2011/09477-9) and CNPq (grant no. 459826/2014-0) and is funded by a research productivity fellowship by CNPq (no. 304735/2016-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Biologia Comparada e Abelhas, Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras (FFCLRP), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14040-901, Brazil

    Rodolpho S. T. Menezes, Daercio A. A. Lucena & Eduardo A. B. Almeida

  2. Instituto de Biociências/IB, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Av. 24A, 1515, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil

    Vanessa B. Bardella & Diogo C. Cabral-de-Mello

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  1. Rodolpho S. T. Menezes
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  2. Vanessa B. Bardella
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  3. Diogo C. Cabral-de-Mello
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  4. Daercio A. A. Lucena
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  5. Eduardo A. B. Almeida
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Correspondence to Rodolpho S. T. Menezes.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Menezes, R.S.T., Bardella, V.B., Cabral-de-Mello, D.C. et al. Are the TTAGG and TTAGGG telomeric repeats phylogenetically conserved in aculeate Hymenoptera?. Sci Nat 104, 85 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-017-1507-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-017-1507-z

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