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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Embryo Microinjection for Transgenesis in Drosophila
Published on: June 7, 2024
High rate of horizontal transfer of transposable elements in Drosophila
Alejandro Sánchez-Gracia1, Xulio Maside, Brian Charlesworth
1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK EH9 3JT.
Abstract:
We have conducted molecular population genetics analyses to understand the relationships among the transposable elements (TEs) in Drosophila melanogaster, in combination with sequence comparisons of TEs from two related species, D. simulans and D. yakuba. We observed much lower than expected genetic differences among elements, clear evidence for departure from expectations for equilibrium copy numbers and little divergence between species. This suggests that a large proportion of TEs in D. melanogaster had a recent origin as a result of interspecies movement.
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