Ikirara, a novel transposon family from the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae

Members of a novel transposon family, Ikirara, were found in the genome of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. They are most abundant in A. gambiae sensu stricto, but related sequences were found in all four other tested members of this species complex. No relatives were found in A. funestus or A. stephensi. Ikirara1, the first isolated family member, was found between two of the tandem Vitellogenin (Vg) genes. Because it was found at this location in G3 and only one of nine other A. gambiae s.s. strains examined, and because its 216 bp inverted terminal repeats are 100% identical, transposition to this locus may have been recent. Ikirara1 inverted repeat terminal sequences are similar to those of DNA to DNA transposons of the mariner/Tc1 and hAT superfamilies. Also similar to mariner/Tc1 elements, insertion of Ikirara1 apparently created a duplication of the dinucleotide TA at the target site.