o:2979 Spoink, a LTR retrotransposon, invaded D. melanogaster populations in the 1990s en During the last few centuries D. melanogaster populations were invaded by several transposable elements, the most recent of which was thought to be the P-element between 1950 and 1980. Here we describe a novel TE, which we named Spoink, that has invaded D. melanogaster. It is a 5216nt LTR retrotransposon of the Ty3/gypsy superfamily. Relying on strains sampled at different times during the last century we show that Spoink invaded worldwide D. melanogaster populations after the P-element between 1983 and 1993. This invasion was likely triggered by a horizontal transfer from the D. willistoni group, much as the P-element. Spoink is probably silenced by the piRNA pathway in natural populations and about 1/3 of the examined strains have an insertion into a canonical piRNA cluster such as 42AB. Given the degree of genetic investigation of D. melanogaster it is perhaps surprising that Spoink was able to invade unnoticed. Animals; Drosophila melanogastergenetics; Retroelements; Piwi-Interacting RNA; Drosophilagenetics; DNA Transposable Elements 1552099 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011201 2024-05-14T09:20:28.237Z 44 yes 46 Riccardo Pianezza University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna 0009-0007-6213-7853 Almorò Scarpa University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna person Prakash Narayanan North Dakota State University person Sarah Signor North Dakota State University person Robert Kofler University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna person 0000-0001-9960-7248 application/pdf 3660715 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2979 no yes 16 70 1552253 PLoS Genetics 25 20 3 Public Library of Science 2024