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

Abstract The facultative pathogenic fungus Fusarium 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 various formae 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.