Distribution of the Uhu element is studied in several species of the Hawaiian Drosophila. An inverse correlation between the copy number and the age of the island on which the species is epidemic exists suggesting a relationship between speciation and the activity of the transposable element.
DNA sequence of three Dhet\Uhu isolates has been determined, and compared to sequences from four other Hawaiian species, D.silvestris, D.differens, D.planitibia and D.picticornis, and D.melanogaster. The element arose at least 5Myr ago, at the time of divergence of D.picticornis from the other species examined. Uhu elements may have been transmitted vertically and that transposition may have been activated at the time of the formation of each species as it colonized the newly formed islands of the Hawaiian archipelago.
Distribution of the Uhu element is studied in several species of the Hawaiian Drosophila. An inverse correlation between the copy number and the age of the island on which the species is epidemic exists suggesting a relationship between speciation and the activity of the transposable element.
DNA sequence of three Dhet\Uhu isolates has been determined, and compared to sequences from four other Hawaiian species, D.silvestris, D.differens, D.planitibia and D.picticornis, and D.melanogaster. The element arose at least 5Myr ago, at the time of divergence of D.picticornis from the other species examined. Uhu elements may have been transmitted vertically and that transposition may have been activated at the time of the formation of each species as it colonized the newly formed islands of the Hawaiian archipelago.