Molecular Evolution of hobo Transposable Elements in Drosophila

9318823西蒙斯转座元件(TES)是在所有生物体中发现的遗传序列，当它们从一个染色体位置转移到另一个染色体位置时，可以引起各种有害影响。TES既可以从父母传给后代(垂直传播)，也可以从一个宿主物种传播给另一个宿主物种(横向)，因此它们的行为类似于寄生虫。西蒙斯博士感兴趣的是确定这种侧向转移到hobo的模式和相对频率。hobo是昆虫果蝇属中的一种转座元件。她之前发表的研究表明，在最近的过去，活跃的流浪汉分子在果蝇内的四个物种之间横向转移。然而，最近的研究表明，其他果蝇物种的hobo序列可能是垂直传播的。西蒙斯博士将对果蝇中流浪者的横向传播和垂直传播进行更完整的分析，方法是克隆和DNA测序几个物种的流浪者基因的全长副本。这些序列将被用来为这些物种中的流浪汉元素构建一棵“家谱树”，并将得到的树与为宿主物种构建的树进行比较。两棵树形状相同的地方表示流浪者已经垂直传播的物种，而两棵树不一致的地方表示潜在的横向转移事件。这些研究将成为了解在各种生物体中发生横向遗传转移事件的机制的频率的努力的支柱。

9318823 Simmons Transposable elements (TEs) are genetic sequences found in all organisms that can cause a wide variety of deleterious effects when they move from one chromosomal site to another. TEs can be transmitted both from parent to offspring (vertically) and from one host species to another (laterally), so that their behavior resembles that of a parasite. Dr. Simmons is interested in determining the pattern and relative frequency of such lateral transfer events to hobo, a transposable element in the insect genus Drosophila. Her previous published work showed that active hobo elements have been laterally transferred among four species within the Drosophila in the recent past. Recent work indicates, however, that hobo sequences in other Drosophila species may have been vertically transmitted. Dr. Simmons will perform a more complete analysis of lateral vs. vertical transmission of hobo in Drosophila by cloning and DNA-sequencing full-length copies of the element from several species Drosophila. The sequences will be used to construct a "family tree" for the hobo element in these species, and the resulting tree will be compared to a tree to be constructed for the host species. Places where the two trees have the same form will indicate species in which hobo has been vertically transmitted, while places where the two trees are not congruent indicate potential lateral transfer events. These studies will form the backbone of the efforts to understand the frequency of the mechanisms of lateral genetic transfer events occurring in all sorts of organisms.