Molecular characterization of ribosomal intergenic spacer in the tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Notostraca)

Nuclear ribosomal DNA constitutes a multigene family, with tandemly arranged units linked by an intergenic spacer (IGS), which contains initiation/termination transcription signals and usually tandemly arranged subrepeats. The structure and variability of the IGS region are analyzed here in hermaphroditic and parthenogenetic populations of the "living fossil" Triops cancriformis (Branchiopoda, Notostraca). The results indicate the presence of concerted evolution at the population level for this G+C-rich IGS region as a whole, with the major amount of genetic variability found outside the subrepeat region. The subrepeats region is composed of 3 complete repeats (a, c, d) intermingled with 3 repeat fragments (b, e, f) and unrelated sequences. The most striking datum is the absolute identity of subrepeats (except type d) occupying the same position in different individuals/populations. A putative promoter sequence is present upstream of the 18S rRNA gene, but not in subrepeats, which is at variance with other arthropod IGSs. The absence of a promoter sequence in the subrepeats and subrepeat sequence conservation suggests that this region acts as an enhancer simply by its repetitive nature, as observed in some vertebrates. The putative external transcribed spacer (840 bp) shows hairpin structures, as in yeasts, protozoans, Drosophila, and vertebrates.