Abstract
A genetically unstable strain of Drosophila melanogaster, ctMR2, which appeared in the course of hybrid dysgenesis1, was found to contain an unstable mutation in the cut locus, resulting from an insertion of the mobile element mdg4 (ref. 2). Multiple genetic events, probably resulting from transposition, were found in this strain and its derivatives3. We have analysed the localization of various mobile elements within the X-chromosome of the ctMR2 strain and its derivatives. We report here a dramatic change in the localization of mobile dispersed genetic elements mdgl, mdg2, mdg3, and copia, FB- and P-elements within the X chromosome. Up to 20 independent transposition events were detected. As the localization of mobile elements within ctMR2 and within each substrain is invariant, we conclude that all transpositions occurred simultaneously in one and the same germ cell. Such ‘transposition bursts’ may have an important role in evolution.
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References
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Gerasimova, T., Mizrokhi, L. & Georgiev, G. Transposition bursts in genetically unstable Drosophila melanogaster. Nature 309, 714–716 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/309714a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/309714a0
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