Summary
Foldback elements are a family of transposable elements described inDrosophila melanogaster. The members of this dispersed repetitive family have terminal inverted repeats that sometimes flank a central region. The inverted repeats of all the family members are homologous.
The study of the distribution and conservation of the foldback elements in differentDrosophila species shows that this distribution is different from that of the hybrid dysgenesis systems (PM and IR). Sequences homologous to foldback elements were observed by Southern blots and in situ hybridization in all species of themelanogaster subgroup and in some species of themontium andtakahashii subgroups. The element was probably already present before the radiation of these subgroups. No evidence of horizontal transmission of the foldback element could be observed.
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Silber, J., Bazin, C., Lemeunier, F. et al. Distribution and conservation of the foldback transposable element inDrosophila . J Mol Evol 28, 220–224 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102479
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102479