Tandem TPE repeats of hobo elements in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster in Ukraine
Temporal surveys of hobo transposable elements in natural populations reveal a historical pattern suggesting a recent world-wide invasion of D. melanogaster genome by these transposons, perhaps following a recent horizontal transfer. To clarify the dynamics of hobo elements in natural populations we used TPE tandem repeats observed of the element as molecular markers. We studied the number of TPE repeats in 8 wild populations collected in various places from the north to the south of Ukraine. Beside the three-TPE elements, five populations demonstrated the presence of hobo with seven-TPE tandem repeats. One population was found to have six-TPE repeats. We suggest that the absence of polymorphism in the tandem repeats of the TPE region of hobo element may be linked to radioactive contamination of the areas inhabited by respective populations.