P-element invasion fuels molecular adaptation in laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic parasites that frequently invade new host genomes through horizontal transfer. Invading TEs often exhibit a burst of transposition, followed by reduced transposition rates as repression evolves in the host. We recreated the horizontal transfer of P-element DNA transposons into a Drosophila melanogaster host and followed the expansion of TE copies and evolution of host repression in replicate laboratory populations reared at different temperatures. We observed that while populations maintained at high temperatures rapidly go extinct after TE invasion, those maintained at lower temperatures persist, allowing for TE spread and the evolution of host repression. We also surprisingly discovered that invaded populations experienced recurrent insertio

SUBMITTER: Wang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10078945 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature