Summary
The structural organization of the retrotransposon gypsy (mdg4) is investigated in two Drosophila melanogaster strains. One of them, the stable w strain (SS), is characterized by a small copy number and stable localization of gypsy. In the other, unstable mutator strain (MS) which is derived from SS, the gypsy copy number and the frequency of its transposition are greatly increased. Genomic gypsy copies cloned from both strains display structural differences allowing them to be divided into two subfamilies. At the nucleotide level, these differences involve single substitutions, deletions and insertions. Southern blot analysis revealed that SS possesses only gypsy elements that belong to one subfamily, while in MS only gypsy copies from the other subfamily were amplified and transposed. The transcriptional activity of gypsy was also studied. Despite the structural differences, plasmid-borne copies of each type of gypsy exhibit equal transcriptional activity in transfected tissue culture cells. Nevertheless, although a high level of gypsy transcription is observed in MS, gypsy poly(A)+RNA is not detected in SS.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arkhipova IR, Ilyin YV (1990) Specific features of organization of promoter regions of Drosophila retrotransposons. Mol Biol (USSR) 23: (in press)
Arkhipova IR, Mazo AM, Cherkasova VA, Gorelova TV, Schupp NG, Ilyin YV (1986) The steps of reverse transcription of Drosophila mobile dispersed genetic elements and U3-R-U5 structure of their LTRs. Cell 44:555–563
Bayev AA jr, Lyubomirskaya NV, Dzhumagaliev EB, Ananiev EV, Amiantova IG, Ilyin YV (1984) Structural organization of transposable element mdg4 from Drosophila melanogaster and nucleotide sequence of its long terminal repeats. Nucleic Acids Res 12:3707–3723
DiNocera PP, Dawid IB (1983) Transient expression of genes introduced into cultured cells of Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80:7095–7099
Dunsmuir P, Brorein WJ, Simon MA, Rubin GM (1980) Insertion of the Drosophila transposable element copia generates a 5 by duplication. Cell 21:575–579
Kim Al, Belyaeva ES, Aslanian MM (1990) Autonomous transposition of gypsy mobile elements and genetic instability in Drosophila melanogaster. Mot Gen Genet (in press)
Lambertsson A, Andersson S, Johansson T (1989) Cloning and characterization of variable-sized gypsy mobile elements in Drosophila melanogaster. Plasmid 22:22–31
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning: A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Marlor RL, Parkhurst SM, Corces VG (1986) The Drosophila melanogaster gypsy transposable element encodes putative gene products homologous to retroviral proteins. Mol Cell Biol 6:1129–1134
Maxam AM, Gilbert W (1980) Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol 65:499–525
Mazo AM, Mizrokhi LJ, Karavanov AA, Sedkov YA, Krichevskaya AA, Ilyin YV (1989) Suppression in Drosophila: su(Hw) and su(f) gene products interact with a region of mdg4 (gypsy) regulating its transcriptional activity. EMBO J 8:903–911
Mizrokhi LJ, Obolenkova LA, Priimagi AF, Ilyin YV, Gerasimova TI, Georgiev GP (1985) The nature of unstable insertion mutations and reversions in the locus cut of Drosophila melanogaster: molecular mechanism of transposition memory. EMBO J 4:3781–3787
Modolell J, Bender W, Meselson MM (1983) Drosophila melanogaster mutations suppressible by suppressor of Hairy-wing are insertions of a 7.3 kilobase mobile element. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80:1678–1682
Peifer M, Bender W (1986) The anterobithorax and bithorax mutations of the bithorax complex. EMBO J 5:2293–2303
Peifer M, Bender W (1988) Sequences of the gypsy transposon of Drosophila necessary for its effects on adjacent genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:9650–9654
Spana C, Harrison DA, Corces VG (1988) The Drosophila melanogaster suppressor of Hairy-wing protein binds to specific sequences of the gypsy retrotransposon. Genes Dev 2:1414–1423
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by D.J. Finnegan
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lyubomirskaya, N.V., Arkhipova, I.R., Ilyin, Y.V. et al. Molecular analysis of the gypsy (mdg4) retrotransposon in two Drosophila melanogaster strains differing by genetic instability. Molec. Gen. Genet. 223, 305–309 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265067
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265067