Résumé
We have discovered a family of short interspersed repetitive elements (SINEs) that are present in the genomes of fish, amphibian and primates. The family of the SINEs, designatedmermaid,is distinctive in each species except for a conserved region of approximately 80 bp. Some members of themermaidfamily were found in transposon-like repetitive elements, including Tc1-like elements which are also distributed in the genomes of fish and amphibian. This raises the possibility of horizontal transfer of themermaidfamily between vertebrates via transposons.