Identification and analysis of Lydia, a LTR retrotransposon from Lymantria dispar

Degenerative PCR primers to conserved amino acid motifs were used to identify an LTR retrotransposon from Lymantria dispar. The isolated retrotransposon, Lydia, is 6655 base pairs (bp) in length and contains perfect 300 bp terminal repeats. The identified gag and pol related ORFs have a high degree of similarity to the corresponding regions of the retrotransposon Ted from Trichoplusia ni, although several reading frameshifts and missense mutations are evident. The high degree of similarity between Lydia and Ted LTRs lends support for a family of lepidopteran retrotransposons. Southern blot analysis of individuals from two geographically distinct gypsy moth populations demonstrates that Lydia is found in both populations and the position of this element within the genome of these isolated populations is variable.