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MBE Advance Access published online on April 6, 2009
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msp067
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© The Author 2009. 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

The fruitless gene in Nasonia displays complex sex-specific splicing and contains new zinc finger domains

Rinaldo C. Bertossa1,2, Louis van de Zande1 and Leo W. Beukeboom1

1 Evolutionary Genetics, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies (where also the work was performed)
2 Chronobiology, Centre for Behaviour and Neurosciences, Department of Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, NL-9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands

Corresponding author: R. C. Bertossa, email: r.c.bertossa{at}rug.nl, Tel. 0031 50 363 21 25, Fax. 0031 50 363 23 48

Received for publication December 9, 2008. Revision received February 16, 2009. Accepted for publication March 27, 2009.

The transcription factor Fruitless exerts a broad range of functions during Drosophila development, the most apparent of which is the determination of sexual behavior in males. Although fruitless sequences are found in other insect orders, little is known about fruitless structure and function outside Diptera. We have performed a thorough analysis of fruitless transcripts in the haplo-diploid wasp Nasonia vitripennis and found both sex-specific and non sex-specific transcripts similar to those found in Drosophila. In Nasonia, however, a novel, large fruitless transcript is present in females only. Putative binding sites for sex-specific splicing factors found in Nasonia fruitless and doublesex as well as Apis mellifera doublesex transcripts were sufficient to identify a corresponding female-specific fruitless exon in A. mellifera, suggesting that similar factors in both hymenopteran species could be responsible for sex-specific splicing of both genes. Furthermore, new C2H2 zinc finger domains found in Nasonia fruitless transcripts were also identified in the fruitless locus of major holometabolous insect species but not in drosophilids. Conservation of important domains and sex-specific splicing in Diptera and Hymenoptera support the hypothesis that fruitless is an ancient gene and has conserved functions in insects. Considerable divergences in other parts of the gene are expected to underlie species-specific differences and may help to explain diversity observed in insect sexual behaviors.

Key Words: Nasonia vitripennis • fruitless • C2H2 zinc finger • alternative splicing • Hymenoptera • sex determination


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