Fig. 2

Identification of two Steamer-like elements in Mytilus chilensis. (A) We interrogate the transcriptome of M. chilensis using Mya arenaria Steamer retrotransposon, two contig were found and were named M. chilensis Steamer-like elements (MchSLE) 1 and 2. Both MchSLEs encode proteins with characteristics of retrotransposons. Genome walking was performed to determine if MchSLEs were indeed LTR-retrotransposons. We identified the full sequence of MchSLE1 and partially extended MchSLE2 up to an integrase domain. MchSLE1 is a 4758 bp LTR-retrotransposons with a single ORF of 4134 bp, long terminal repeats (LTRs) of 185 bp, a putative primer binding site (PBS) for the AsnAACtRNA and a Poly purine track (PPT). (B) PCR detection of MchSLE1 (upper panel) and MchSLE2 (middle panel) in the genome of 7 animals, α-Tubulin detection was used as a loading control (bottom panel). The location of the primers used for the PCR assay are depicted above and below the RT domains of both MchSLEs