MBE Advance Access originally published online on May 25, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2005 22(9):1793-1801; doi:10.1093/molbev/msi175
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Research Article |
Rapidly Evolving Genes of Drosophila: Differing Levels of Selective Pressure in Testis, Ovary, and Head Tissues Between Sibling Species
Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
E-mail: singh{at}mcmaster.ca.
Investigations of rapidly evolving sex- and reproduction-related genes are expected to reveal important information about the process of speciation and species divergence. We screened testis, ovary, and head tissues to identify and characterize rapidly evolving genes (REGs) between closely related species. The results show differential patterns of evolution of genes expressed in reproductive and nonreproductive tissues. (1) There is a differential distribution of REGs in the Drosophila genome, with most REGs localized in the testis, followed by ovary, and then head. (2) Sequence analysis indicates that differential selective pressures are driving the rapid evolution of genes expressed in sex and nonsex tissues. Testis REGs from our data, on average, yielded higher rates of nonsynonymous substitutions relative to transcripts in ovary and head, indicating stronger selective pressures on the male reproductive system. (3) We identified REGs in the testis, ovary, as well as in head tissue that show evidence of evolving under positive selection. Identification of rapidly evolving sex genes is important for detailed investigations of cryptic female choice, sexual conflict, and faster male evolution and is pertinent to our understanding of the process of species divergence and speciation.
Key Words: speciation sexual selection sex- and reproduction-related genes rapidly evolving genes
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
L. M. Mikhaylova, K. Nguyen, and D. I. Nurminsky Analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster Testes Transcriptome Reveals Coordinate Regulation of Paralogous Genes Genetics, May 1, 2008; 179(1): 305 - 315. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. G. Artieri, W. Haerty, B. P. Gupta, and R. S. Singh Sexual Selection and Maintenance of Sex: Evidence from Comparisons of Rates of Genomic Accumulation of Mutations and Divergence of Sex-Related Genes in Sexual and Hermaphroditic Species of Caenorhabditis Mol. Biol. Evol., May 1, 2008; 25(5): 972 - 979. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. E. Mank, L. Hultin-Rosenberg, E. Axelsson, and H. Ellegren Rapid Evolution of Female-Biased, but Not Male-Biased, Genes Expressed in the Avian Brain Mol. Biol. Evol., December 1, 2007; 24(12): 2698 - 2706. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. Haerty, S. Jagadeeshan, R. J. Kulathinal, A. Wong, K. Ravi Ram, L. K. Sirot, L. Levesque, C. G. Artieri, M. F. Wolfner, A. Civetta, et al. Evolution in the Fast Lane: Rapidly Evolving Sex-Related Genes in Drosophila Genetics, November 1, 2007; 177(3): 1321 - 1335. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. M. Graze, O. Barmina, D. Tufts, E. Naderi, K. L. Harmon, M. Persianinova, and S. V. Nuzhdin New Candidate Genes for Sex-Comb Divergence Between Drosophila mauritiana and Drosophila simulans Genetics, August 1, 2007; 176(4): 2561 - 2576. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Jagadeeshan and R. S. Singh Rapid Evolution of Outer Egg Membrane Proteins in the Drosophila melanogaster Subgroup: A Case of Ecologically Driven Evolution of Female Reproductive Traits Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2007; 24(4): 929 - 938. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
V. L. Bauer DuMont, H. A. Flores, M. H. Wright, and C. F. Aquadro Recurrent Positive Selection at Bgcn, a Key Determinant of Germ Line Differentiation, Does Not Appear to be Driven by Simple Coevolution with Its Partner Protein Bam Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2007; 24(1): 182 - 191. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Metta, R. Gudavalli, J.-M. Gibert, and C. Schlotterer No Accelerated Rate of Protein Evolution in Male-Biased Drosophila pseudoobscura Genes Genetics, September 1, 2006; 174(1): 411 - 420. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. Haerty and R. S. Singh Gene Regulation Divergence Is a Major Contributor to the Evolution of Dobzhansky-Muller Incompatibilities between Species of Drosophila Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2006; 23(9): 1707 - 1714. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. M. Turner and H. E. Hoekstra Adaptive Evolution of Fertilization Proteins within a Genus: Variation in ZP2 and ZP3 in Deer Mice (Peromyscus) Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2006; 23(9): 1656 - 1669. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||

