Reconstructing the Invasion Route of the P-Element in Drosophila melanogaster Using Extant Population Samples.

ABSTRACT: The P-element, one of the best understood eukaryotic transposable elements, spread in natural Drosophila melanogaster populations in the last century. It invaded American populations first and later spread to the Old World. Inferring this invasion route was made possible by a unique resource available in D. melanogaster: Many strains sampled from different locations over the course of the last century. Here, we test the hypothesis that the invasion route of the P-element may be reconstructed from extant population samples using internal deletions (IDs) as markers. These IDs arise at a high rate when DNA transposons, such as the P-element, are active. We suggest that inferring invasion routes is possible as: 1) the fraction of IDs increases in successively invaded populations, which also ex

SUBMITTER: Weilguny L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7750958 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature