Pattern of transposable elements distribution on Drosophila melanogaster polytene chromosomes before and after quantitative trait selection

Abstract

The effect of selecting the length of a radial vein on the distribution of hybridization sites for P and hobo transposons and mdg1 and mdg2 retrotransposons on polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster salivary glands was studied. The pattern of the transposable element (TEs) distribution was polymorphic in both parental and selected strains. The similarity in mdg1 and mdg2 distribution between strains selected in one direction was closer than between strains selected in the opposite direction, but the selected strains were closer to each other than to the parental strain, regardless of direction of selection. No new mdg2 hybridization sites that would be absent from the control were found in the selected strains compared to the control. The number of mdg1 and hobo hybridization sites was more selected in strains in the (+) direction than in the (−) direction. The mobility of hobo copies in the strains correlated with the presence of its full-sized copy in the genome. The polymorphism of all TEs studied except for mdg1 was higher in strains selected in the (+) direction than in the (−) direction. These results suggest that some TEs migrate over the genome independently of selection, whereas the other are markers of evolutionary events rather than their causes.