Abstract
In this paper we report a new retrotransposon-like element ofDrosophila melanogaster calledTirant. This sequence is moderately repeated in the genome of this species and it has been found to be widely dispersed throughout its distribution area. From Southern blot andin situ analyses, this sequence appears to be mobile inD. melanogaster, since its chromosome location and the hybridization patterns vary among the different strains analyzed. In this way, partial sequencing ofTirant ends suggests that it is a retrotransposon, since it is flanked by two LTRs.
The presence of sequences homologous toTirant has been also investigated in 28 species of the genusDrosophila by means of Southern analyses. These sequences were only detected in species frommelanogaster andobscura groups. These data suggest that ancestral sequences ofTirant appeared after the Sophophora radiation and before the divergence of those groups.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Arkhipova IR, Mazo AM, Cherkasova VA, Gorelova TV, Schuppe NG, Ilyin YV (1986) The steps of reverse transcription of Drosophila mobile dispersed genetic elements and U3-R-U5 structure of their LTRs. Cell 44:555–563
Bajev AA, Lyubomirskaya NV, Dzhumagaliev EB, Ananiev EV, Amiantova IG, Ilyin YV (1984) Structural organization of transposable element mdg4 from Drosophila melanogaster and a nucleotide sequence of its long terminal repeats. Nucleic Acids Res 12:3707–3723
Bingham PM, Zachar Z (1989) Retrotransposons and the FB transposon from Drosophila melanogaster. In: Berg DE, Howe MM (eds) Mobile DNA. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, pp 485–502
de Frutos R, Kimura K, Peterson K (1990) In situ hybridization of Drosophila polytene chromosomes with digoxigenin-dUTP labeled probes. Methods Mol Cell Biol 2:32–36
de Frutos R, Peterson KR, Kidwell MG (1992) Distribution of Drosophila melanogaster transposable element sequences in species of the obscura group. Chromosoma 101:293–300
Dowsett AP, Young MW (1982) Differing levels of dispersed middle repetitive DNA among closely related species of Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:4570–4574
Engels WR (1981) Hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila and the stochastic loss hypothesis. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 45:561–565
Finnegan D, Fawcett D (1986) Transposable elements in Drosophila melanogaster. In: Maclean N (ed) Oxford surveys on eukaryotic genes, vol 3. pp 1–62
Finnegan D (1989) Eukaryotic transposable elements and genome evolution. Trends Genet 5:103–107
Garrell J, Modolell J (1990) The Drosophila extramacrochaetae locus, an antagonist of proneural genes that, like these genes, encodes a helix-loop-helix protein. Cell 61:39–48
Ikenaga H, Saigo K (1982) Insertion of a movable genetic element, 297, into the T-A-T-A box for the H3 histone gene in Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:4143–4147
Inouye S, Yuki S, Saigo K (1984) Sequence-specific Drosophila transposable element 17.6. Nature 310:332–333
Inouye S, Saigo K, Yamada K, Kuchino Y (1986) Identification and nucleotide sequence determination of a potential primer tRNA for reverse transcription of a Drosophila retrotransposon, 297. Nucleic Acids Res 14:3031–3043
Junakovic N, Caneva R, Ballario P (1984) Genomic distribution of copia-like elements in laboratory stocks of D. melanogaster. Chromosoma 90:378–382
Kidwell MG (1992) Horizontal transfer of P elements and other short inverted repeat transposons. Genetica 86:275–286
Martin G, Wiemasz D, Schedl P (1983) Evolution of Drosophila repetitive-dispersed DNA. J Mol Evol 19:203–213
McDonald JF (1989) The potential evolutionary significance of retroviral-like transposable elements in peripheral populations. In: Fontdevila A (ed) Evolutionary biology of transient unstable populations. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 190–205
Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T (1989) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Press, New York
Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-termination inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:5463–5467
Snyder MP, Kimbrell D, Hunkapiller M, Hill R, Fristrom J, Davidson N (1982) A transposable element that splits the promoter region inactivates a Drosophila cuticle protein gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:7430–7434
Southern EM (1975) Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol 98:503–517
Stacey SN, Lansman RA, Brock HW, Grigliatti TA (1986) Distribution and conservation of mobile elements in the genus Drosophila. Mol Biol Evol 3:522–534
Temin HM (1981) Structure, variation and synthesis of retrovirus long terminal repeat. Cell 27:1–3
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Correspondence to: M.J. Martínez-Sebastián
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moltó, M.D., Paricio, N., López-Preciado, M.A. et al. Tirant: A new retrotransposon-like element inDrosophila melanogaster . J Mol Evol 42, 369–375 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02337547
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02337547