Am. Handler et Sd. Mccombs, The piggyBac transposon mediates germ-line transformation in the Oriental fruit fly and closely related elements exist in its genome, INSEC MOL B, 9(6), 2000, pp. 605-612
Germ-line transformation of a white eye strain of the Oriental fruit fly, B
actrocera dorsalis, was achieved with the piggyBac vector, derived from a t
ransposon originally isolated from the cabbage looper moth, Trichoplusia ni
. The Vector was marked with the medfly white(+) gene cDNA, and three trans
genic lines were identified at a frequency of approximately 2% per fertile
G(0). Vector integrations were verified by Southern DNA hybridization, whic
h also revealed the presence of endogenous genomic elements closely related
to piggyBac. Approximately 10-20 elements per genome were evident in sever
al B. dorsalis strains, and sequence analysis of 1.5 kb gene amplification
products from two wild strains and the white eye host strain indicated 95%
nucleotide and 92% amino acid sequence identity among resident elements and
the T. ni element. PiggyBac was not evident by hybridization in other teph
ritid species, or insects previously transformed with the transposon, This
is the first discovery of piggyBac beyond T. ni, and its existence in a dis
tantly related species has important implications for the practical use of
the vector and insects transformed with it.