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Updated: May 22, 2026

Cytological Analysis of Spermatogenesis: Live and Fixed Preparations of Drosophila Testes
Published on: January 20, 2014
The DAIBAM MITE element is involved in the origin of one fixed and two polymorphic Drosophila virilis phylad
Nuno A Fonseca1, Cristina P Vieira, Christian Schlötterer
1CRACS-INESC Porto LA, Porto, Portugal.
Abstract:
Chromosomal inversions can originate from breakage and repair by non-homologous end-joining. Nevertheless, they can also originate from ectopic recombination between transposable elements located on the same chromosome inserted in opposite orientations. Here, we show that a MITE element (DAIBAM), previously involved in the origin of one Drosophila americana polymorphic inversion, is also involved in the origin of one fixed inversion between D. virilis and D. americana and another D. americana polymorphic inversion. Therefore, DAIBAM is responsible for at least 20% of the chromosomal rearrangements that are observed within and between species of the virilis phylad (D. virilis, D. lummei, D. novamexicana and D. americana), having thus played a significant role in the chromosomal evolution of this group of closely related species.
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