INVASION OF THE HOBO TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENT STUDIED BY IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION ON POLYTENE CHROMOSOMES OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER

The invasion kinetics of hobo transposable element in the Drosophila m elanogaster genome was studied by in situ hybridization on the polyten e chromosomes. Six independent lines of Drosophila melanogaster flies that had been previously transformed by microinjection of the pHFL1 pl asmid containing a complete hobo element were followed over 50 generat ions. We observed that hobo elements were scattered on each of the chr omosome arms, with more insertion sites on the 3R arm. The total numbe r of insertion sites remains quite small, between four and six, at gen eration 52. On the 2R arm, a short inversion appeared once at generati on 52. Most of the integration sites reported here were already descri bed for several transposons but some of them appear to be hotspots for hobo elements.