Distribution of the LOA 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.
The Dsil\Loa element is an interspersed sequence isolated from the genome of D.silvestris, and appears to be a member of the non-LTR class of retrotransposons. It is 7.7kb long and its 3' end consists of TAA tandem repeats. Most elements are truncated at the 5' end and contain deletions. The Dsil\Loa element contains two overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). Two 'cys' motifs characteristic of gag proteins are found in ORF1, and ORF2 has similarities with retroviral pol genes, containing three presumptive protein domains in the following order: 5'-protease-reverse transcriptase-integrase-3'.
Distribution of the LOA 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.
The Dsil\Loa element is an interspersed sequence isolated from the genome of D.silvestris, and appears to be a member of the non-LTR class of retrotransposons. It is 7.7kb long and its 3' end consists of TAA tandem repeats. Most elements are truncated at the 5' end and contain deletions. The Dsil\Loa element contains two overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). Two 'cys' motifs characteristic of gag proteins are found in ORF1, and ORF2 has similarities with retroviral pol genes, containing three presumptive protein domains in the following order: 5'-protease-reverse transcriptase-integrase-3'.