ABSTRACT
The colonization of the nuclear genome by mitochondrial DNA is an ongoing process in eukaryotes and plays an important role in genomic variability. Notwithstanding the DNA sequence availability of about 100 complete eukaryotic genomes, up to now NumtS distribution has been fully reported for a small number of sequenced eukaryotic species. With the aim to clarify the time and way of NumtS evolution, we explored the genomic distribution of NumtS in 23 eukaryotic species using an intra/interspecies in silico approach based on a cross-species similarity search and deeply investigate the evolution of NumtS in mammals. The intra- and interspecies analysis underlined how some mitochondrial regions that populated nuclear genomes can be considered as hotspots. Considering the large amount of NumtS we found in platypus and opossum genomes, we hypothesized the occurrence of an earlier colonization that happened prior to the Prototherian/Therian mammal divergence, approximately 160-210 million years ago. These events are still detectable due to the species-specific dynamics that have affected these genomes. Phylogenetic analyses of NumtS derived from two different mitochondrial DNA loci allowed us to recognize the unusual NumtS evolution that acted differently on primate and non-primate species' genomes.
