Molecular Identification of Polymorphic Transposable Elements in Populations of the Invasive Ant

Overview

Journal Biol Methods Protoc

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Jul 25

PMID 39050818

Authors

Esther van den Bos

Jurgen Gadau

Lukas Schrader

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Transposable elements (TEs) are found in virtually every eukaryotic genome and are important for generating genetic variation. However, outside of costly and time-consuming whole-genome sequencing approaches, the set of available methods to study TE polymorphisms in non-model species is very limited. The Transposon Display (TD) is a simple yet effective technique to characterize polymorphisms across samples by identifying amplified fragment length polymorphisms using primers targeting specific TE families. So far, this technique has almost exclusively been used in plants. Here, we present an optimized TD protocol for insect species with small genomes such as ants (ca. 200-600 Mb). We characterized TE polymorphisms between two distinct genetic lineages of the invasive ant , as well as between neighboring populations of the New World lineage. We found active LTR/Ty3 retrotransposons, that contributed to the genetic diversification of populations in this species.

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