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Morphological evolution through multiple cis-regulatory mutations at a single gene

Nature volume 448, pages 587–590 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

One central, and yet unsolved, question in evolutionary biology is the relationship between the genetic variants segregating within species and the causes of morphological differences between species. The classic neo-darwinian view postulates that species differences result from the accumulation of small-effect changes at multiple loci. However, many examples support the possible role of larger abrupt changes in the expression of developmental genes in morphological evolution1,2,3. Although this evidence might be considered a challenge to a neo-darwinian micromutationist view of evolution, there are currently few examples of the actual genes causing morphological differences between species4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Here we examine the genetic basis of a trichome pattern difference between Drosophila species, previously shown to result from the evolution of a single gene, shavenbaby (svb), probably through cis-regulatory changes6. We first identified three distinct svb enhancers from D. melanogaster driving reporter gene expression in partly overlapping patterns that together recapitulate endogenous svb expression. All three homologous enhancers from D. sechellia drive expression in modified patterns, in a direction consistent with the evolved svb expression pattern. To test the influence of these enhancers on the actual phenotypic difference, we conducted interspecific genetic mapping at a resolution sufficient to recover multiple intragenic recombinants. This functional analysis revealed that independent genetic regions upstream of svb that overlap the three identified enhancers are collectively required to generate the D. sechellia trichome pattern. Our results demonstrate that the accumulation of multiple small-effect changes at a single locus underlies the evolution of a morphological difference between species. These data support the view that alleles of large effect that distinguish species may sometimes reflect the accumulation of multiple mutations of small effect at select genes.

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Figure 1: Modified svb expression underlies the evolved trichome pattern of D. sechellia.
Figure 2: Three enhancer regions, which collectively recapitulate the svb expression pattern, have evolved in D. sechellia.
Figure 3: High-resolution interspecific recombination mapping identifies three enhancer regions of svb that caused evolution of the D. sechellia trichome pattern.
Figure 4: A possible model of the evolutionary path of the D. sechellia trichome pattern.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Y. Tao for D. mauritiana stocks and for sharing unpublished data; F. Roch for anti-Min antibody; T. Frankino for help with flies; A. Bassan, P. Valenti, Y. Latapie and S. Plaza for experimental help, discussions and critical reading of the manuscript; and W. Damen and N. Brown for hosting A.P.M. and I.D., respectively, during manuscript revisions. This work was supported by funding from the Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (to J.Z.), the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (programme équipe 2005), an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship and a BBSRC grant to I.D., a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Fellowship to V.O., a National Institute of General Medical Sciences National Research Service Award Fellowship to D.G.S., and a NIH grant and a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship to D.L.S.

Author Contributions The enhancer analysis was designed by A.P.M., I.D., F.P. and D.L.S.; DNA constructs and transgenic flies were made by A.P.M., I.D. and D.G.S.; embryos were stained, examined and photographed by A.P.M., I.D., J.Z., D.G.S., F.P. and D.L.S.; the recombination mapping experiment was designed and performed by D.L.S., V.O. and A.P.M. All authors participated in data analysis and writing of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Alistair P. McGregor, Virginie Orgogozo & Isabelle Delon

    Present address: Present addresses: Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, D-50674, Cologne, Germany (A.P.McG.); Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Bâtiment A, 7 Quai Saint Bernard, 75005 Paris, France (V.O.); The Gurdon Institute and Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QN, UK (I.D.).,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA,

    Alistair P. McGregor, Virginie Orgogozo, Dayalan G. Srinivasan & David L. Stern

  2. Centre de Biologie du Développement, Bâtiment 4R3, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 cedex 4 Toulouse, France,

    Isabelle Delon, Jennifer Zanet & François Payre

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Correspondence to David L. Stern.

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McGregor, A., Orgogozo, V., Delon, I. et al. Morphological evolution through multiple cis-regulatory mutations at a single gene. Nature 448, 587–590 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05988

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