Special seminar - Andrea Betancourt: The P-element invasion of Drosophila simulans
- Date: Jun 11, 2019
- Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Andrea Betancourt from the University of Liverpool, UK
- For more information on the speaker and her expertise, please check https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/integrative-biology/staff/andrea-betancourt/
- Location: MPI Plön
- Room: Lecture hall
- Host: Tobias Kaiser
Abstract:
Transposable elements are widespread genomic
parasites, and the archetypal example of a selfish gene, which
can impose large fitness costs on their hosts. The key to
their long-term persistence may therefore be the ability to
spread between hosts, as exemplified by the invasion of Drosophila melanogaster by the P-element. This
transposable element originated in a distant relative and
spread through D. melanogaster in the latter
half of the 20th century. Recently, we discovered a second
invasion of a Drosophila species by the P-element. We find
that the P-element spread through D. simulans rapidly
and nearly simultaneously on three continents, with strains
containing P-elements being rare in 2006 and common by 2014.
Remarkably, the flies appear to have evolved to adapt to the
presence of the P-element in this short time frame: fly
strains collected from the early phase of this invasion are
vulnerable to DNA damage from the P-element, while those from
the latter phase are not. We investigate the genetic basis of
this resistance, and find it appears to have little to do with
the small RNA defence usually invoked in transposable element
suppression.