Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1988 Aug;85(16):6052–6056. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.16.6052

Mobility of P elements in drosophilids and nondrosophilids

David A O'Brochta 1, Alfred M Handler 1
PMCID: PMC281903  PMID: 16593972

Abstract

The mobility properties of the Drosophila melanogaster P element in drosophilid and nondrosophilid species has been determined using a P-element mobility assay that is conducted transiently in insect embryos. P elements are mobilizable in all drosophilids tested, including species outside the genus Drosophila but not in the related Tephritidae (order: Diptera), although the P-element gene necessary for mobility, transposase, is transcribed. These results show that without modifications P elements will not serve as general insect gene vectors and suggest that nonconserved host-encoded factors participate in the transposition of P elements. Our methods will be generally useful for analyzing the cis- and trans-acting factors required for P-element mobility in vivo and could be used to analyze the mobility properties of other transposable elements in insects.

Full text

PDF
6054

Images in this article

6054Image
on p.6054
6054Image
on p.6054

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beverley S. M., Wilson A. C. Molecular evolution in Drosophila and the higher Diptera II. A time scale for fly evolution. J Mol Evol. 1984;21(1):1–13. doi: 10.1007/BF02100622. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brennan M. D., Rowan R. G., Dickinson W. J. Introduction of a functional P element into the germ-line of Drosophila hawaiiensis. Cell. 1984 Aug;38(1):147–151. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90535-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chang A. C., Cohen S. N. Construction and characterization of amplifiable multicopy DNA cloning vehicles derived from the P15A cryptic miniplasmid. J Bacteriol. 1978 Jun;134(3):1141–1156. doi: 10.1128/jb.134.3.1141-1156.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chomczynski P., Sacchi N. Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. Anal Biochem. 1987 Apr;162(1):156–159. doi: 10.1006/abio.1987.9999. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cockburn A. F., Howells A. J., Whitten M. J. Recombinant DNA technology and genetic control of pest insects. Biotechnol Genet Eng Rev. 1984;2:69–99. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Daniels S. B., Strausbaugh L. D. The distribution of P-element sequences in Drosophila: the willistoni and saltans species groups. J Mol Evol. 1986;23(2):138–148. doi: 10.1007/BF02099908. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Engels W. R. The P family of transposable elements in Drosophila. Annu Rev Genet. 1983;17:315–344. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.17.120183.001531. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hanahan D. Studies on transformation of Escherichia coli with plasmids. J Mol Biol. 1983 Jun 5;166(4):557–580. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80284-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hirt B. Selective extraction of polyoma DNA from infected mouse cell cultures. J Mol Biol. 1967 Jun 14;26(2):365–369. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(67)90307-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Karess R. E., Rubin G. M. Analysis of P transposable element functions in Drosophila. Cell. 1984 Aug;38(1):135–146. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90534-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Laski F. A., Rio D. C., Rubin G. M. Tissue specificity of Drosophila P element transposition is regulated at the level of mRNA splicing. Cell. 1986 Jan 17;44(1):7–19. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90480-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Melton D. A., Krieg P. A., Rebagliati M. R., Maniatis T., Zinn K., Green M. R. Efficient in vitro synthesis of biologically active RNA and RNA hybridization probes from plasmids containing a bacteriophage SP6 promoter. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Sep 25;12(18):7035–7056. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.18.7035. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Miller L. H., Sakai R. K., Romans P., Gwadz R. W., Kantoff P., Coon H. G. Stable integration and expression of a bacterial gene in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Science. 1987 Aug 14;237(4816):779–781. doi: 10.1126/science.3039658. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rio D. C., Barnes G., Laski F. A., Rine J., Rubin G. M. Evidence for Drosophila P element transposase activity in mammalian cells and yeast. J Mol Biol. 1988 Mar 20;200(2):411–415. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90250-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rio D. C., Laski F. A., Rubin G. M. Identification and immunochemical analysis of biologically active Drosophila P element transposase. Cell. 1986 Jan 17;44(1):21–32. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90481-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rubin G. M., Kidwell M. G., Bingham P. M. The molecular basis of P-M hybrid dysgenesis: the nature of induced mutations. Cell. 1982 Jul;29(3):987–994. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90462-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rubin G. M., Spradling A. C. Genetic transformation of Drosophila with transposable element vectors. Science. 1982 Oct 22;218(4570):348–353. doi: 10.1126/science.6289436. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Scavarda N. J., Hartl D. L. Interspecific DNA transformation in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(23):7515–7519. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.23.7515. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Spradling A. C., Rubin G. M. Transposition of cloned P elements into Drosophila germ line chromosomes. Science. 1982 Oct 22;218(4570):341–347. doi: 10.1126/science.6289435. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Stacey S. N., Lansman R. A., Brock H. W., Grigliatti T. A. Distribution and conservation of mobile elements in the genus Drosophila. Mol Biol Evol. 1986 Nov;3(6):522–534. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040413. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Steller H., Pirrotta V. A transposable P vector that confers selectable G418 resistance to Drosophila larvae. EMBO J. 1985 Jan;4(1):167–171. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb02332.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Steller H., Pirrotta V. Regulated expression of genes injected into early Drosophila embryos. EMBO J. 1984 Jan;3(1):165–173. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01778.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES