Abstract
Ten lines of Drosophila simulans were investigated with respect to P activity, P susceptibility and the number and structure of their P copies, eight years after transformation with the P element. All 10 were found to have reached a steady state. They exhibited varying levels of P activity (from 0 per cent to 96 per cent GD sterility) and, with the exception of one line, were not P-susceptible. In contrast with P element behaviour in D. melanogaster: (i) no relationship was found between the molecular pattern of P copies in a line and its ability to induce or to repress P expression in D. simulans; (ii) peculiar P element derivatives were observed in this species; (iii) the average number of P copies per genome was only half of that in D. melanogaster. This may result from transposon–host genome interactions, which lead to a low invading power of the P element in D. simulans.
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Higuet, D., Merçot, H., Allouis, S. et al. The relationship between structural variation and dysgenic properties of P elements in long-established P-transformed lines of Drosophila simulans. Heredity 77, 9–15 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1996.102
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1996.102
