Hawley, R.S., Steuber, R.A., Marcus, C.H., Sohn, R., Baronas, D.M., Cameron, M.L., Zitron, A.E., Chase, J.W. (1988). Molecular analysis of an unstable P-element insertion at the singed locus of Drosophila melanogaster: Evidence for intracistronic transposition of a P-element.  Genetics 119(): 85--94.

FBrf0048250

Research paper

In a companion study, a number of P element insertions into the singed locus were characterized. Here is reported a detailed analysis of the structure and mutability of another P element insertion at sn, known as sncm. Under conditions which mobilize P elements, sncm mutates at high frequency to both wild-type (sn+) and to a much more extreme allele (snext). Wild-type revertants appear to represent precise or nearly precise excisions of the P element. Certainly two, and most likely all five, of the snext alleles studied result from the insertion of a duplicate copy of this P element into a nearby site in an inverted orientation. We propose a model in which both the sn+ and snext mutational events can be explained by excision of the P element from one chromatid followed by reintegration into the sister chromatid at a nearby site (intracistronic transposition). Finally, it is shown that the snext alleles are themselves unstable and the structure of a resulting chromosome aberration is examined.

PMC1203348 (PMC) (EuropePMC)