The Evolutionary Dynamics of Ribosomal Genes, Histone H3, and Transposable Rex Elements in the Genome of Atlantic Snappers

Lutjanidae is a family of primarily marine and carnivorous fishes distributed in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, with enormous economic and ecological importance. In order to better clarify the conservative chromosomal evolution of Lutjanidae, we analyzed the evolutionary dynamics of 5 repetitive DNA classes in 5 Lutjanus and in 1 Ocyurus species from the Western Atlantic. The ribosomal 18S sites were generally located in a single chromosome pair, except for L. jocu and L. alexandrei where they are found in 2 pairs. In turn, the 5S rDNA sites are unique, terminal and nonsyntenic with the 18S rDNA sites. In 3 species analyzed, H3 hisDNA genes were found in 1 chromosomal pair. However, while L. jocu presented 2 H3 sites, O. chrysurus showed a noteworthy dispersion of this gene in almost all chromosomes of the karyotype. Retrotransposons Rex1 and Rex3 do not exhibit any association with the explosive distribution of H3 sequences in O. chrysurus. The low compartmentalization of Rex elements, in addition to the general nondynamic distribution of ribosomal and H3 genes, corroborate the karyotype conservatism in Lutjanidae species, also at the microstructural level. However, some disturbing evolutionary waves can break down this conservative scenario, as evidenced by the massive random dispersion of H3 hisDNA in the genome of O. chrysurus. The implication of the genomic expansion of H3 histone genes and their functionality remain unknown, although suggesting that they have higher evolutionary dynamics than previously thought.