Facultad de Ciencias

Seminario del 29 de septiembre de 2023

Eugenia Elisabet Montiel Jiménez, Profesora de Genética, Departamento de Biología UAM.

Eukaryotic genomes have a large number of repeated DNA sequences composing the species repeatome. Satellite DNA and transposable elements are mainly components of repeatome and are responsible for differences in genome sizes in most of the cases. For example, transposable elements make up 45% of the human genome or 85% of the maize genome, and in some insect, satellite DNA is the main fraction of repeated DNA, representing more than 50% of total genomic DNA. Traditionally considered as garbage and discarded from genome assembly processes, the study of repeated DNA sequences is highlighting their importance in the evolutionary process of species due to their variability and rapid rate of change. The advances in sequencing technologies, and their decrease in price, has significantly boosted the analysis of genome sequences and currently, bioinformatics tools have been developed to identify and analyze repeated DNA with a depth never known before, without the need of assembled genome. In this seminar, we will take a look at examples of repeatoma elements from different species, characterized from low-coverage sequencing data, identify common characteristics between species, and explore their value in the threatened group of turtles and tortoises.