Skip to main content
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
. 1986 Nov;83(22):8684–8688. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.22.8684

Molecular structure of a somatically unstable transposable element in Drosophila.

J W Jacobson, M M Medhora, D L Hartl
PMCID: PMC386995  PMID: 3022302

Abstract

A transposable element has been isolated from an unstable white mutation in Drosophila mauritiana, a sibling species of Drosophila melanogaster. The unstable white-peach (wpch) allele exhibits a spectrum of germ-line and somatic mutability more similar to insertion mutations in maize and in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans than has been reported for insertion mutations in Drosophila. The inserted element mariner is 1286 nucleotides long and has terminal inverted repeats. The element contains a single open reading frame encoding 346 amino acids. A duplication of 2 base pairs of white sequence is present at the insertion site. Mariner is present in approximately 20 copies in the D. mauritiana genome, is present from 0 to 7 copies in other members of the sibling species group, and is apparently absent from the genome of D. melanogaster.

Full text

PDF
8684

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Barnes W. M., Bevan M., Son P. H. Kilo-sequencing: creation of an ordered nest of asymmetric deletions across a large target sequence carried on phage M13. Methods Enzymol. 1983;101:98–122. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)01008-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Benton W. D., Davis R. W. Screening lambdagt recombinant clones by hybridization to single plaques in situ. Science. 1977 Apr 8;196(4286):180–182. doi: 10.1126/science.322279. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Benyajati C., Spoerel N., Haymerle H., Ashburner M. The messenger RNA for alcohol dehydrogenase in Drosophila melanogaster differs in its 5' end in different developmental stages. Cell. 1983 May;33(1):125–133. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90341-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bingham P. M., Levis R., Rubin G. M. Cloning of DNA sequences from the white locus of D. melanogaster by a novel and general method. Cell. 1981 Sep;25(3):693–704. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90176-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bodmer M., Ashburner M. Conservation and change in the DNA sequences coding for alcohol dehydrogenase in sibling species of Drosophila. 1984 May 31-Jun 6Nature. 309(5967):425–430. doi: 10.1038/309425a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bolivar F., Rodriguez R. L., Greene P. J., Betlach M. C., Heyneker H. L., Boyer H. W., Crosa J. H., Falkow S. Construction and characterization of new cloning vehicles. II. A multipurpose cloning system. Gene. 1977;2(2):95–113. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chen E. Y., Seeburg P. H. Supercoil sequencing: a fast and simple method for sequencing plasmid DNA. DNA. 1985 Apr;4(2):165–170. doi: 10.1089/dna.1985.4.165. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Coyne J. A. The genetic basis of Haldane's rule. 1985 Apr 25-May 1Nature. 314(6013):736–738. doi: 10.1038/314736a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dowsett A. P. Closely related species of Drosophila can contain different libraries of middle repetitive DNA sequences. Chromosoma. 1983;88(2):104–108. doi: 10.1007/BF00327329. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dowsett A. P., Young M. W. Differing levels of dispersed repetitive DNA among closely related species of Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Aug;79(15):4570–4574. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.15.4570. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Döring H. P., Starlinger P. Barbara McClintock's controlling elements: now at the DNA level. Cell. 1984 Dec;39(2 Pt 1):253–259. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90002-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Eide D., Anderson P. Transposition of Tc1 in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Mar;82(6):1756–1760. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.6.1756. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Emmons S. W., Yesner L. High-frequency excision of transposable element Tc 1 in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is limited to somatic cells. Cell. 1984 Mar;36(3):599–605. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90339-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. 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]
  15. Goldberg M. L., Paro R., Gehring W. J. Molecular cloning of the white locus region of Drosophila melanogaster using a large transposable element. EMBO J. 1982;1(1):93–98. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01130.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Goodman H. M., Olson M. V., Hall B. D. Nucleotide sequence of a mutant eukaryotic gene: the yeast tyrosine-inserting ochre suppressor SUP4-o. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5453–5457. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5453. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Haymer D. S., Marsh J. L. Germ line and somatic instability of a white mutation in Drosophila mauritiana due to a transposable genetic element. Dev Genet. 1986;6(4):281–291. doi: 10.1002/dvg.1020060406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Jacobson J. W., Hartl D. L. Coupled instability of two X-linked genes in Drosophila mauritiana: germinal and somatic mutability. Genetics. 1985 Sep;111(1):57–65. doi: 10.1093/genetics/111.1.57. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Karn J., Brenner S., Barnett L., Cesareni G. Novel bacteriophage lambda cloning vector. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Sep;77(9):5172–5176. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.9.5172. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Kozak M. Compilation and analysis of sequences upstream from the translational start site in eukaryotic mRNAs. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 25;12(2):857–872. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.2.857. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Kuner J. M., Nakanishi M., Ali Z., Drees B., Gustavson E., Theis J., Kauvar L., Kornberg T., O'Farrell P. H. Molecular cloning of engrailed: a gene involved in the development of pattern in Drosophila melanogaster. Cell. 1985 Aug;42(1):309–316. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80126-4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. 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]
  23. Levis R., Bingham P. M., Rubin G. M. Physical map of the white locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jan;79(2):564–568. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.2.564. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Levis R., O'Hare K., Rubin G. M. Effects of transposable element insertions on RNA encoded by the white gene of Drosophila. Cell. 1984 Sep;38(2):471–481. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90502-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Lis J. T., Simon J. A., Sutton C. A. New heat shock puffs and beta-galactosidase activity resulting from transformation of Drosophila with an hsp70-lacZ hybrid gene. Cell. 1983 Dec;35(2 Pt 1):403–410. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90173-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Moerman D. G., Benian G. M., Waterston R. H. Molecular cloning of the muscle gene unc-22 in Caenorhabditis elegans by Tc1 transposon tagging. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Apr;83(8):2579–2583. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.8.2579. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Mount S. M., Rubin G. M. Complete nucleotide sequence of the Drosophila transposable element copia: homology between copia and retroviral proteins. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jul;5(7):1630–1638. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.7.1630. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Myers R. M., Tilly K., Maniatis T. Fine structure genetic analysis of a beta-globin promoter. Science. 1986 May 2;232(4750):613–618. doi: 10.1126/science.3457470. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. O'Hare K., Murphy C., Levis R., Rubin G. M. DNA sequence of the white locus of Drosophila melanogaster. J Mol Biol. 1984 Dec 15;180(3):437–455. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(84)90021-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. O'Hare K., Rubin G. M. Structures of P transposable elements and their sites of insertion and excision in the Drosophila melanogaster genome. Cell. 1983 Aug;34(1):25–35. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90133-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. O'Tousa J. E., Baehr W., Martin R. L., Hirsh J., Pak W. L., Applebury M. L. The Drosophila ninaE gene encodes an opsin. Cell. 1985 Apr;40(4):839–850. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90343-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Pirrotta V., Bröckl C. Transcription of the Drosophila white locus and some of its mutants. EMBO J. 1984 Mar;3(3):563–568. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01847.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Queen C., Korn L. J. A comprehensive sequence analysis program for the IBM personal computer. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 11;12(1 Pt 2):581–599. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.1part2.581. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Rigby P. W., Dieckmann M., Rhodes C., Berg P. Labeling deoxyribonucleic acid to high specific activity in vitro by nick translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol. 1977 Jun 15;113(1):237–251. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(77)90052-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Rosenzweig B., Liao L. W., Hirsh D. Sequence of the C. elegans transposable element Tc1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Jun 25;11(12):4201–4209. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.12.4201. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. 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]
  38. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Staden R., McLachlan A. D. Codon preference and its use in identifying protein coding regions in long DNA sequences. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Jan 11;10(1):141–156. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.1.141. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Vogelstein B., Gillespie D. Preparative and analytical purification of DNA from agarose. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Feb;76(2):615–619. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.2.615. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Yanisch-Perron C., Vieira J., Messing J. Improved M13 phage cloning vectors and host strains: nucleotide sequences of the M13mp18 and pUC19 vectors. Gene. 1985;33(1):103–119. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(85)90120-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Zachar Z., Bingham P. M. Regulation of white locus expression: the structure of mutant alleles at the white locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Cell. 1982 Sep;30(2):529–541. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90250-1. [DOI] [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