Drifter, a novel, low copy hAT-like transposon in Fusarium oxysporum is activated during starvation

The facultative pathogenic fungus Fusaritan oxysporum is known to harbour many different transposable and/or repetitive elements. We have identified Drifter, a novel DNA transposon of the hAT family in F oxysporum. It was found adjoining SIX1-H, a truncated homolog of the SIX1 avirulence gene in F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Absence of a target site duplication as well as the 5' part of SIX1-H suggests that transposition of Drifter into the ancestor of SIX1-H was followed by loss of a chromosomal segment through recombination between Drifters. F. oxysporum isolates belonging to variousforinae speciales harbour between 0 and 5 full-length copies of Drifter and/or one or more copies with an internal deletion. Transcription of Drifter is activated during starvation for carbon or nitrogen. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.