Molecular Analysis of KP Elements Derived from Korean Populations of Drosophifa mefanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster 한국지반에서 분리한 KP Elements의 DNA 염기서열 분석

KP elements derived from Korean populations (Seoul, Cheonan and Taegu) of Drosophila melunoguster were examined for their molecular structure. The entire 1.15 kb sequence of the three KP elements KC-137 (Cheonan), KS-95 (Seoul) and KT-99 (Taegu) have been obtained by PCR amplification using inverted repeat primers and DNA sequencing. The 1.15 kb fragments of KP elements were cloned into pCRmll vector plasmids, and subsequently sequenced. The sequence of the three KP elements in these populations suggested that there might have been derived from the complete P element by a 1753 bp internal deletion between positions 808 and 2560. Therefore these KP elements were confirmed to be identical to that isolated from M'10 strains widely distributed in most Eurasian populations of D. melanoguster. Sequence comparison with the 2.9 kb complete P element in pn25.1 revealed that KC-137 has only shown to be two base substitutions of A to G and G to A at positions 62 and 242, respectively. The retained sequence of the two KP elements KS-95 and KT-99 shows complete homology to the P factor in pn25.1. Based on this result, the two base substitutions in KC-137 might be due to Taq DNA pollunerase errors. Finally, it is suggested that the high copy numbers of KP elements provieds an explanation for the suppression of P-mediated hybrid dvssenesis in Korean population of D. melunogoster.