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MBE Advance Access published online on October 20, 2006
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msl141
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted October 5, 2006

Research Article

Recurrent Positive Selection at Bgcn, a Key Determinant of Germline Differentiation, Does Not Appear to be Driven by Simple Co-Evolution with Its Partner Protein Bam

Vanessa L. Bauer DuMont 1, Heather A. Flores 1, Mark H. Wright 1, and Charles F. Aquadro 1 *

1 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Charles F. Aquadro, E-mail: CFA1{at}CORNELL.EDU


  Abstract

Surveys of nucleotide sequence polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans were performed at two interacting loci crucial for gametogenesis: bag-of-marbles (bam) and benign gonial cell neoplasm (bgcn). At the polymorphism level, both loci appear to be evolving under the expectations of the neutral theory. However, ratios of polymorphism and divergence for synonymous and nonsynonymous mutations depart significantly from neutral expectations for both loci consistent with a previous observation of positive selection at bam. The deviations suggest either an excess of synonymous polymorphisms or an excess of nonsynonymous fixations at both loci. Synonymous evolution appears to conform to neutrality at bam. At bgcn there is evidence of positive selection affecting preferred synonymous mutations along the D. simulans lineage. However, there is also a significantly higher rate of nonsynonymous fixations at bgcn within D. simulans. Thus the deviation from neutrality detected by the McDonald-Kreitman test at these two loci is likely due to the selective acceleration of nonsynonymous fixations. Differences in the pattern of amino acid fixations between these two interacting proteins suggest that the detected positive selection is not due to a simple model of co-evolution.

Keywords: Drosophila; bam; bgcn; positive selection; nonsynonymous.
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