Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on July 17, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msn155
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
25/9/2043    most recent
msn155v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Almeida, F. C.
Right arrow Articles by DeSalle, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Almeida, F. C.
Right arrow Articles by DeSalle, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. 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

Research Article

Evidence of Adaptive Evolution of Accessory Gland Proteins in Closely Related Species of the Drosophila repleta Group

Francisca C. Almeida*,{dagger} and Rob DeSalle*,{dagger}

* Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History
{dagger} Department of Biology, New York University

Corresponding author: Francisca C. Almeida, Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St, New York, NY 10024, United States of America, email: falmeida{at}amnh,org, voice: 1(212)496-3675, fax: 1(212)769-5277

Received for publication March 13, 2008. Revision received May 8, 2008. Accepted for publication July 3, 2008.

Accessory gland proteins (Acps) are part of the seminal fluid of Drosophila species. These proteins have important reproductive functions, being responsible for the proper functioning of several steps of the fertilization process. Acps also contribute indirectly for the reproductive success of males by modulating female behavior. Evidence that Acps participate in sperm competition and sexual conflict includes findings that, on average, Acps have fast evolutionary rates, suggestive of adaptive evolution. This is especially true in species of the D. repleta group. Nevertheless, only in a few occasions have robust statistical tests been used to determine whether observed evolutionary rates are in fact due to positive selection on amino acid changes between related species. Here we apply maximum likelihood tests for positive selection on 14 Acps of the D. repleta group. To increase statistical robustness, we use at least 8 sequences, belonging to different species of the D. mulleri complex, for each gene analyzed. We found significant evidence of adaptive evolution for 10 of the tested genes. Among these, the ones with a conserved protein domain had positively selected sites within the functional region of the sequence. We also detected one instance of lineage-specific adaptive evolution in a clade formed by 2 sister species.

Key Words: Acp • Drosophila repleta group • adaptive evolution


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
E. S. Kelleher and J. E. Pennington
Protease Gene Duplication and Proteolytic Activity in Drosophila Female Reproductive Tracts
Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2009; 26(9): 2125 - 2134.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
E. S. Kelleher and T. A. Markow
Duplication, Selection and Gene Conversion in a Drosophila mojavensis Female Reproductive Protein Family
Genetics, April 1, 2009; 181(4): 1451 - 1465.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.