Anton Manasco

Honors in Biology

Major: Biology Minor: Spanish

Supervisor: Marcel Van Tuinen, Biology and Marine Biology

Using Genetic Hotspots of Retroelement Activity as a Tool for Evaluating Avian Phylogeny

Retroelements are genomic elements that insert via an RNA intermediate. These elements make up a large portion of the vertebrate genome. The Chicken Repeat 1 retrotransposon is the most abundant retroelement in the avian genome. Determining the presence or absence of a retroelement in a certain genetic location can elucidate phylogenetic relationships. A “hotspot” is a gene or non-coding region with multiple independent insertions of retroelements in non-coding regions. Hotspots facilitate screening of a wide spectrum of species, by allowing multiple regions of a gene to be screened for retroelement presence. We designed primers from genetic sequences from GENbank, an online genomic database, around three suspected hotspots, the gene arylakylamine – N – acetyltransferase (AANAT) the nuclear mitochondrial dna pseudogene, and a genetic marker 1637, which was developed in our lab. We found multiple retroelements present in AANAT sequences of raptors, Nuclear Mitochondrial DNA of Darwin’s Finches, and other genetic regions. Data gathered from our broad inter-specific screening will be presented as well as background on the presence/absence method and its impact on evolutionary biology.