msechBari, a new MITE-like element in Drosophila sechellia related to the Bari transposon

Abstract

A few occurrences of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) have been reported in species of the genus Drosophila. Here, we describe msechBari, a MITE-like element in Drosophila sechellia. The element is short, approximately 90 bp in length, AT-rich and occurs in association with, or close to, genes, characteristics that are typical for MITEs. The identification was performed in silico using the sequenced genome of D. sechellia and confirmed in a laboratory strain. This short element is related to the Bari_DM transposon of Drosophila melanogaster, having terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) of a similar length and a high identity with the full-length Bari_DM element. The estimated recent origin of the element and the homogeneity observed between copies found in the genome suggests that msechBari could be active in D. sechellia.