Two Drosophila retrotransposon gypsy subfamilies differ in ability to produce new DNA copies via reverse transcription in Drosophila cultured cells.

Plasmid DNA constructs containing 5' end truncated retrotransposon gypsy were introduced into Drosophila cultured cells. Appearance of new complete DNA copies with reconstructed via reverse transcription 5'LTR were detected by PCR after transient expression and by Southern blot analysis of genome DNA of stably transformed cells. Two gypsy subfamilies supposed to be different in transpositional activity were analyzed in terms of their ability to produce new DNA copies via reverse transcription in D. hydei cultured cells. It was demonstrated that both gypsy variants undergo retrotransposition but with different efficiency.