The P element invaded rapidly and caused hybrid dysgenesis in natural populations of Drosophila simulans in Japan

Transposable elements not only can change genomic positions and disperse across the gene pool, but also can jump to another species through horizontal transmission. Of late, the P element, a DNA transposon in insects, was shown to cross the genetic boundary from Drosophila melanogaster to D. simulans in Europe around 2006. To understand the dynamics of transposable elements, especially in the early stages of invasion, we examined 63 lines of D. simulans from 11 natural populations in Japan established in 1976–2015. Based on PCR analyses, P elements were demonstrated to exist in Japan in 2008 and later. One copy of the full‐length P element was identified and mapped to a site on chromosome 3 L in a genome. All of 18 copies of P elements examined shared “A” at the nucleotide position 2040, which is representative of the direct descendants of the original P element that invaded in D. simulans. We also found that some lines having P elements can induce intensive gonadal dysgenesis in D. simulans at 29°C. Our present results imply that P elements in D. simulans arrived at the east end of Asia just a few years later than or almost simultaneously to the initial invasion in Europe, Africa, and North America, suggesting a more astonishingly rapid spread than previously assumed. P elements were recently shown to invade into D. simulans from its closely related species, D. melanogaster in Europe and Northeast America about 2006‐2008. Survey of Japanese populations suggested that P elements in D. simulans are spreading worldwide more rapid than previously thought. Our result may be an evolutionary snapshot of ongoing evolution of a transposable element.