< i > Spoink < /i > , a LTR retrotransposon, invaded < i > D. melanogaster < /i > populations in the 1990s

by Riccardo Pianezza, Almor ò Scarpa, Prakash Narayanan, Sarah Signor, Robert Kofler

During the last few centuriesD. melanogaster populations were invaded by several transposable elements, the most recent of which was thought to be theP-element between 1950 and 1980. Here we describe a novel TE, which we namedSpoink, that has invadedD. melanogaster. It is a 5216nt LTR retrotransposon of the Ty3/gypsy superfamily. Relying on strains sampled at different times during the last century we show thatSpoink invaded worldwideD. melanogaster populations after theP-element between 1983 and 1993. This invasion was likely triggered by a horizontal transfer from theD. willistoni group, much as theP-element.Spoink is probably silenced by the piRNA pathway in natural populations and about 1/3 of the examined strains have an insertion into a canonical piRNA cluster such as42AB. Given the degree of genetic investigation ofD. melanogaster it is perhaps surprising thatSpoink was able to invade unnoticed.

Source: PLoS Genetics - March 26, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Riccardo Pianezza Source Type: research