Insertion patterns of P{lacW} and P{EP} artificial transposons on the third chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster

Insertional mutagenesis experiments performed on Drosophila melanogaster model often relies on induced mobilization of artificial transposons derived from P mobile element. In an attempt to detect transposition preferences, we accomplished a pilot study concerning the insertional patterns of P{lacW} and P{EP} constructs in the third chromosome of D. melanogaster. Our inventory inquiry considered 2177 insertions of P{lacW} and 1646 insertions of P{EP} available in FB2016_02 release of FlyBase and revealed insertional hotspots and coldspots in 3L and 3R, but also a preference of both artificial transposons to insert in 3R. The general distribution of P{lacW} and P{EP} insertions appears to be similar but not identical, probably due to differences in size and molecular architecture of these transposons. Our results may have predictive value for experimental design of insertional mutagenesis screenings, but are also expected to contribute to a better understanding of P transposon biology. Introduction Transposons are mobile elements implicated in important genetic mechanisms (Jeffares et al., 2006; Linheiro and Bergman, 2012) and the understanding of their insertion pattern may provide important clues regarding their various functions. In this pilot study, we analyzed the insertion patterns of P{lacW} and P{EP} artificial transposons (Bier et al., 1989; Rorth, 1996) located on the third chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. In order to achieve our goal, we interrogated the Transposons, Transgenic Constructs, and Insertions item archived in FlyBase (http://flybase.org), which provides a comprehensive database containing information regarding the insertion mapping of curated artificial transposons (insertion_mapping_fb_2016_03.tsv.gz). The unzipped .tsv file includes data not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/074070 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Sep. 8, 2016;