Impact of Multiple Insertions of two Retroelements, ZAM and Idefix at an Euchromatic Locus

Transposable elements represent a large fraction of eukaryotic genomes and they are thought to play an important role in chromatin structure. ZAMand Idefixare two LTR-retrotransposons from Drosophila melanogastervery similar in structure to vertebrate retroviruses. In all the strains where their distribution has been studied, ZAMappears to be present exclusively in the intercalary heterochromatin while Idefixcopies are mainly found in the centromeric heterochromatin with very few copies in euchromatin. Their distribution varies in a specific strain called RevI in which the mobilization of ZAMand Idefixis highly induced. In this strain, 15 copies of ZAMand 30 copies of Idefixare found on the chromosomal arms in addition to their usual distribution. Amongst the loci where new copies are detected, a hotspot for their insertion has been detected at the whitelocus where up to four elements occurred within a 3-kb fragment at the 5′ end of this gene. This property of ZAMand Idefixto accumulate at a defined site provides an interesting paradigm to bring insight into the effect exerted by multiple insertions of transposable elements at an euchromatic locus.