The Worldwide Invasion of Drosophila suzukii Is Accompanied by a Large Increase of Transposable Element Load and a Small Number of Putatively Adaptive Insertions.

ABSTRACT: Transposable elements (TEs) are ubiquitous and mobile repeated sequences. They are major determinants of host fitness. Here, we characterized the TE content of the spotted wing fly Drosophila suzukii. Using a recently improved genome assembly, we reconstructed TE sequences de novo and found that TEs occupy 47% of the genome and are mostly located in gene-poor regions. The majority of TE insertions segregate at low frequencies, indicating a recent and probably ongoing TE activity. To explore TE dynamics in the context of biological invasions, we studied the variation of TE abundance in genomic data from 16 invasive and six native populations of D. suzukii. We found a large increase of the TE load in invasive populations correlated with a reduced Watterson estimate of genetic diversity θw^ a

SUBMITTER: Merel V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8476158 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature