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The genome of the purple sea urchin contains numerous large gene families with putative immunological functions. One gene family, known as 185/333, is characterized by extraordinary molecular diversity resulting from single nucleotide polymorphisms and the presence or the absence of 27 large blocks of sequences known as elements. The mosaic composition of elements, known as element patterns, that is present within the members of this gene family is encoded entirely in the second of two exons. Many of the elements correspond to one of six types of repeats that are present throughout the genes. The sequence diversity and variation in element patterns led us to investigate the evolution of the 185/333 gene family. The work presented here suggests that the element patterns are the result of both recombination and duplication and/or deletion of intragenic repeats. Each element is composed of a limited …