The evolutionary arms race between transposable elements and piRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract Data of insertion site localization and site occupancy frequency of P, hobo, I, copia, mdg1, mdg3, 412, 297, and roo transposable elements (TEs) on the polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster were extracted from the literature. We show that TE insertion site number per chromosomal division was significantly correlated with the amount of DNA. The insertion site number weighted by DNA content was not correlated with recombination rate for all TEs except hobo, for which a positive correlation was detected. No global tendency emerged in the relationship between TE site occupancy frequency, weighted by DNA content, and recombination rate; a strong negative correlation was, however, found for the 3L arm. A possible dominant deleterious effect of chromosomal rearrangements due to recombination between TE insertions is thus not the main factor explaining the dynamics of TEs, since this hypothesis implies a negative relationship between recombination rate and both TE insertion site number and site occupancy frequency. The alternative hypothesis of selection against deleterious effects of insertional mutations is discussed.

Download Full-text

Coevolving Predator and Prey Robots: Do “Arms Races” Arise in Artificial Evolution?

Artificial Life ◽

10.1162/106454698568620 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 311-335 ◽

Cited By ~ 111

Author(s):

Stefano Nolfi ◽

Dario Floreano

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Robotics ◽

Arms Race ◽

Artificial Evolution ◽

Arms Races ◽

Wide Range ◽

Evolutionary Arms Race ◽

Adaptive Power ◽

Competing Populations

Coevolution (i.e., the evolution of two or more competing populations with coupled fitness) has several features that may potentially enhance the power of adaptation of artificial evolution. In particular, as discussed by Dawkins and Krebs [3], competing populations may reciprocally drive one another to increasing levels of complexity by producing an evolutionary “arms race.” In this article we will investigate the role of coevolution in the context of evolutionary robotics. In particular, we will try to understand in what conditions coevolution can lead to “arms races.” Moreover, we will show that in some cases artificial coevolution has a higher adaptive power than simple evolution. Finally, by analyzing the dynamics of coevolved populations, we will show that in some circumstances well-adapted individuals would be better advised to adopt simple but easily modifiable strategies suited for the current competitor strategies rather than incorporate complex and general strategies that may be effective against a wide range of opposing counter-strategies.

Download Full-text

Evolutionary arms race: A 400 million-year-old battle between HIV and ancient genes, HERC5 and HERC6

10.32907/ro-106-122125 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 122-125

Author(s):

Stephen Barr

Keyword(s):

Arms Race ◽

Evolutionary Arms Race

Download Full-text

Evolutionary Arms Race

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1946-1 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 1-2

Author(s):

Gordon G. Gallup ◽

Rebecca Burch

Keyword(s):

Arms Race ◽

Evolutionary Arms Race

Download Full-text

Alternative functions of CRISPR–Cas systems in the evolutionary arms race

Nature Reviews Microbiology ◽

10.1038/s41579-021-00663-z ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Prarthana Mohanraju ◽

Chinmoy Saha ◽

Peter van Baarlen ◽

Rogier Louwen ◽

Raymond H. J. Staals ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arms Race ◽

Evolutionary Arms Race

Download Full-text

S elements: a family of Tc1-like transposons in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster.

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/141.4.1425 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 141 (4) ◽

pp. 1425-1438 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P J Merriman ◽

C D Grimes ◽

J Ambroziak ◽

D A Hackett ◽

P Skinner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Amino Acid ◽

Transposable Elements ◽

Sibling Species ◽

Inverted Repeat ◽

Open Reading Frame ◽

Drosophila Species ◽

Insertion Mutation ◽

Reading Frame ◽

Diploid Genome

Abstract The S elements form a diverse family of long-inverted-repeat transposons within the genome of Drosophila melanogaster. These elements vary in size and sequence, the longest consisting of 1736 bp with 234-bp inverted terminal repeats. The longest open reading frame in an intact S element could encode a 345-amino acid polypeptide. This polypeptide is homologous to the transposases of the mariner-Tc1 superfamily of transposable elements. S elements are ubiquitous in D. melanogaster populations and also appear to be present in the genomes of two sibling species; however, they seem to be absent from 17 other Drosophila species that were examined. Within D. melanogaster strains, there are, on average, 37.4 cytologically detectable S elements per diploid genome. These elements are scattered throughout the chromosomes, but several sites in both the euchromatin and beta heterochromatin are consistently occupied. The discovery of an S-element-insertion mutation and a reversion of this mutation indicates that S elements are at least occasionally mobile in the D. melanogaster genome. These elements seem to insert at an AT dinucleotide within a short palindrome and apparently duplicate that dinucleotide upon insertion.

Download Full-text