Genomic and structural organization of Drosophila melanogaster G elements

The properties and the genomic organization of G elements, a moderately repeated DNA family of D. melanogaster, are reported. G elements lack terminal repeats, generate target site duplications at the point of insertion and exhibit at one end a stretch of A residues of variable length. In a large number of recombinant clones analyzed G elements occur in tandem arrays, interspersed with specific ribosomal DNA (rDNA) segments. This arrangement results from the insertion of members of the G family within the nontranscribed spacer (NTS) of rDNA units. Similarity of the site of integration of G elements to that of ribosomal DNA insertions suggests that distinct DNA sequences might have been inserted into rDNA through a partly common pathway.