X. Li et al., piggyBac-mediated transposition in Drosophila melanogaster: an evaluation of the use of constitutive promoters to control transposase gene expression, INSEC MOL B, 10(5), 2001, pp. 447-455
Transgenic non-Drosophilid insects have been made using insect transposable
elements that have a broad host range such as the piggyBac element. Howeve
r, the success rate is often low. Previous piggyBac helper plasmids have us
ed either the piggyBac or the hsp70 promoter from Drosophila melanogaster t
o control expression of the transposase gene. Here we show that plasmids wi
th the piggyBac transposase gene regulated by constitutive promoters can be
effective 'helpers' for mediating transposition in D. melanogaster. We als
o present preliminary evidence on the use of an RNA helper that encodes the
transposase. Our results suggest that for germ-line transformation of non-
Drosophilid insects it may be advantageous to isolate a constitutive promot
er from the species of interest to control transposase expression.