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Comparative Study
. 2004 Aug 17;101(33):12232-5.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0401975101. Epub 2004 Aug 10.

Gene duplication and speciation in Drosophila: evidence from the Odysseus locus

Chau-Ti Ting  1 , Shun-Chern Tsaur, Sha Sun, William E Browne, Yung-Chia Chen, Nipam H Patel, Chung-I Wu
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Gene duplication and speciation in Drosophila: evidence from the Odysseus locus

Chau-Ti Ting et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

The importance of gene duplication in evolution has long been recognized. Because duplicated genes are prone to diverge in function, gene duplication could plausibly play a role in species differentiation. However, experimental evidence linking gene duplication with speciation is scarce. Here, we show that a hybrid-male sterility gene, Odysseus (OdsH), arose by gene duplication in the Drosophila genome. OdsH has evolved at a very high rate, whereas its most immediate paralog, unc-4, is nearly identical among species in the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup. The disparity in their sequence evolution is echoed by the divergence in their expression patterns in both soma and reproductive tissues. We suggest that duplicated genes that have yet to evolve a stable function at the time of speciation may be candidates for "speciation genes," which is broadly defined as genes that contribute to differential adaptation between species.

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Figures

Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Sequence evolution of OdsH and unc-4. The numbers given next to the branches indicate nonsynonymous substitutions only in the homeodomain. Substitutions (nonsynonymous vs. synonymous) on all the homologous sequences aligned in Fig. 1 are given in parentheses. The rate of substitutions is illustrated by the thickness of the lines. yak, D. yakuba; mel, D. melanogaster, sec, D. Sechellia; sim, D. simulans; mau, D. mauritiana.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Structure (a) and sequences (b) of OdsH and unc-4. Only regions where the two genes are mutually alignable are shown and analyzed. A plus symbol between the two groups indicates where at least one of the OdsH sequences shares the same amino acid with unc-4. The C terminus, as shown, contains a shared protein–protein interaction domain. **, There are 74 residues for OdsH and 210 residues for unc-4.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Gene expression in the four Drosophila species. (a–d) OdsH expression in male reproductive tissues. T, testis; AC, accessory gland. (e–h) OdsH expression in stage 14 embryos. (i–l) unc-4 expression in stage 14 embryos. D. mau, D. mauritiana; D. mel, D. melanogaster; D. sim, D. simulans; D. yak, D. yakuba.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Expression levels of OdsH and unc-4 in D. melanogaster, as quantified by real-time RT-PCR. All values are normalized against an internal control (rp-49), and the relative expression level is shown in the log scale. (a) Expression in different stages and sexes. The reference point of zero on the y axis is approximately the average expression of OdsH across the four measurements. (b) Expression of OdsH in different tissues in males.
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References

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