Characterization of a Tigger1 element from the genome of the American mink (Neovison vison).

Tigger elements belong to the Tc1/Mariner family of DNA transposons which is remarkably widespread in nature with homologs present in organisms as diverse as fungi, plants and animals. In this report, we present the nucleotide sequence of a defragmented Tigger1 element from the genome of the American mink. The element is 2,274 bp long, carries 13 bp terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) and contains the vestiges of two open reading frames (ORFs), one of which is similar to the centromere associated protein CENP B. In addition, we estimate that the genome of the American mink contains approximately 1000 Tigger1 elements, but find no evidence for the transcription of extant elements in the mink.