Transposition pattern of the maize element Ds in Arabidopsis thaliana

As part of establishing an efficient transposon tagging system in Arabidopsis using the maize elements Ac and Ds, we have analyzed the inheritance and pattern of Ds transposition in four independent Arabidopsis transformants. A low proportion (33%) of plants inheriting the marker used to monitor excision contained a transposed Ds. Selection for the transposed Ds increased this to at least 49%. Overall, 68% of Ds transpositions inherited with the excision marker were to genetically linked sites; however, the distribution of transposed elements varied around the different donor sites. Mapping of transposed Ds elements that were genetically unlinked to the donor site showed that a proportion (3 of 11 tested) integrated into sites which were still physically linked.