Abstract
In this paper we report a new retrotransposon-like element ofDrosophila melanogaster calledTirant. This sequence is moderately repeated in the genome of this species and it has been found to be widely dispersed throughout its distribution area. From Southern blot andin situ analyses, this sequence appears to be mobile inD. melanogaster, since its chromosome location and the hybridization patterns vary among the different strains analyzed. In this way, partial sequencing ofTirant ends suggests that it is a retrotransposon, since it is flanked by two LTRs.
The presence of sequences homologous toTirant has been also investigated in 28 species of the genusDrosophila by means of Southern analyses. These sequences were only detected in species frommelanogaster andobscura groups. These data suggest that ancestral sequences ofTirant appeared after the Sophophora radiation and before the divergence of those groups.
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Correspondence to: M.J. Martínez-Sebastián
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Moltó, M.D., Paricio, N., López-Preciado, M.A. et al. Tirant: A new retrotransposon-like element inDrosophila melanogaster . J Mol Evol 42, 369–375 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02337547
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02337547