Structural instability of 297 element in Drosophila melanogaster.
297 element Southern pattern modifications previously detected in mutation accumulation lines of Drosophila melanogaster were further investigated by in situ hybridisation, Southern blotting with different combinations of genomic digest-probe, and PCR. Only one out of the nine pattern modifications studied could be interpreted as an excision and was detectable by in situ hybridisation to polytene chromosomes. Results were consistent with most pattern modifications being small rearrangements within the body of the element. In agreement with the existence of spontaneous rearrangements of this kind is the observation that many genomic copies of element 297 are defective and these are not limited to heterochromatin. These findings have important implications for the models of transposable element (TE) number regulation as well as for the study of genome evolution.
Domínguez
A
A
Departamento de Biología Funcional, Universidad de Oviedo, Spain. ads@sauron.quimica.uniovi.es
Albornoz
J
J
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D017931:DNA Primers; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D017931:DNA Primers; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements