Abstract
The chromosomal location of the mobile element mdg-1 was studied in 17 highly-inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Although some lines were stable for their pattern of insertion sites from the 15th to the 27th and 35th brother–sister generations, others showed a high rate of gain of new insertion sites or a high rate of excision (loss of elements). In one line, 8 new insertion sites on the third chromosome were associated with an inversion on this chromosome; there is evidence that the rearrangement occurred premeiotically, thus suggesting a “transposition burst” in this line. There was no correlation between the rate of gain of new insertions and the rate of excision, this latter rate being higher. We have strong evidence that transposition is replicative. Excisions and, to a lesser extent, gains of insertions have been found to be copy-number dependent, suggesting that this is a main mechanism for copy-number regulation. Most inbred lines tended toward an optimal mdg-1 copy number for which they no longer showed transposition or excision (they became stable). These results may explain the instability sometimes reported in inbred lines.
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Biémont, C., Aouar, A. Copy-number dependent transpositions and excisions of the mdg-1 mobile element in inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Heredity 58, 39–47 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1987.6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1987.6
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