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Sex-specific methylation in Drosophila: an investigation of the Sophophora subgenus

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Abstract

Epigenetic phenomena have been widely characterized in the genomes of vertebrates and DNA methylation is a key mechanism of epigenetic regulation. The DNA methylation systems of invertebrates and vertebrates show several notable differences. However, the evolutionary implications of those differences only recently began to be revealed. Our study investigated the recurrence of sex-specific methylation, as previously described for the species Drosophila willistoni, in other species of the Sophophora subgenus that present close evolutionary relationship. The MSRE and Southern blot techniques were used to analyze rDNA of some species of the willistoni, melanogaster, saltans and obscura groups of Drosophila and the results suggested that differential DNA methylation between sexes only occurs in Drosophila tropicalis and D. insularis, two sibling species of the willistoni subgroup. However, only using the MSRE technique we could detect sex-specific patterns of DNA methylation in all species of willistoni subgroup. These results indicate that DNA methylation may present important differences, even between closely related species, shedding new light on this Neotropical species complex.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Raul Godoy-Herrera, of University of Chile, for strains of D. subobscura; Dr. Muneo Matsuda, of the Kyorin University–Tokyo, for strains of D. pseudoobscura; Dr. Elgion Loreto, of Universidade Federal de Santa Maria–Brazil, for D. sechellia strains and Dr. Hermes J. Schmitz for stimulating discussions about evolution. We would also thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions. This study was supported by grants and fellowships from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Marícia Fantinel D’Ávila & Vera Lúcia da Silva Valente

  2. Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Colégio de Aplicação, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Rosane Nunes Garcia

  3. Sección Genetica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Yanina Panzera

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  1. Marícia Fantinel D’Ávila
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  2. Rosane Nunes Garcia
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  3. Yanina Panzera
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  4. Vera Lúcia da Silva Valente
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Correspondence to Marícia Fantinel D’Ávila.

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D’Ávila, M.F., Garcia, R.N., Panzera, Y. et al. Sex-specific methylation in Drosophila: an investigation of the Sophophora subgenus. Genetica 138, 907–913 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-010-9473-9

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