PLoS Genetics (Mar 2024)

Spoink, a LTR retrotransposon, invaded D. melanogaster populations in the 1990s.

  • Riccardo Pianezza,
  • Almorò Scarpa,
  • Prakash Narayanan,
  • Sarah Signor,
  • Robert Kofler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1011201
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 3
p. e1011201

Abstract

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During the last few centuries D. melanogaster populations were invaded by several transposable elements, the most recent of which was thought to be the P-element between 1950 and 1980. Here we describe a novel TE, which we named Spoink, that has invaded D. melanogaster. It is a 5216nt LTR retrotransposon of the Ty3/gypsy superfamily. Relying on strains sampled at different times during the last century we show that Spoink invaded worldwide D. melanogaster populations after the P-element between 1983 and 1993. This invasion was likely triggered by a horizontal transfer from the D. willistoni group, much as the P-element. Spoink is probably silenced by the piRNA pathway in natural populations and about 1/3 of the examined strains have an insertion into a canonical piRNA cluster such as 42AB. Given the degree of genetic investigation of D. melanogaster it is perhaps surprising that Spoink was able to invade unnoticed.