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A Genomic Comparison of Faster-Sex, Faster-X, and Faster-Male Evolution Between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura

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Abstract

A genomic comparison of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura provides a unique opportunity to investigate factors involved in sequence divergence. The chromosomal arrangements of these species include an autosomal segment in D. melanogaster which is homologous to part of the X chromosome in D. pseudoobscura. Using orthologues to calculate rates of nonsynonymous (dN) substitutions, we found genes on the X chromosome to be significantly more diverged than those on the autosomes, but it is not true for segment 3L-XR which is autosomal in D. melanogaster (3L) and X-linked in D. pseudoobscura (XR). We also found that the median dN values for genes having reproductive functions in either the male, the female, or both sexes are higher than those for sequences without reproductive function and even higher for sequences involved in male-specific function. These estimates of divergence for male sex-related sequences are most likely underestimates, as the very rapidly evolving reproductive genes would tend to lose homology sooner and thus not be included in the comparison of orthologues. We also noticed a high proportion of male reproductive genes among the othologous genes with the highest rates of dN. Reproductive genes with and without an orthologue in D. pseudoobscura were compared among D. melanogaster, D. simulans, and D. yakuba and it was found that there were in fact higher rates of divergence in the group without a D. pseudoobscura orthologue. These results, from widely separated taxa, bolster the thesis that sexual system genes experience accelerated rates of change in comparison to nonsexual genes in evolution and speciation.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our appreciation to R.A. Morton, J. Stone, J.P. Xu, R. Kulathinal, W. Haerty, and A. Civetta for providing critical comments and suggestions on the manuscript. Special thanks go to B. Whitty for help with alignment of sequences and to A. Musters for help with the statistical analysis. This work was funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada through a discovery grant to R.S.S.

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  1. Department of Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street W, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Heidi Musters, Melanie A. Huntley & Rama S. Singh

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  1. Heidi Musters
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  2. Melanie A. Huntley
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  3. Rama S. Singh
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Correspondence to Heidi Musters.

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[Reviewing Editor: Dr. Willie J. Swanson]

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Musters, H., Huntley, M.A. & Singh, R.S. A Genomic Comparison of Faster-Sex, Faster-X, and Faster-Male Evolution Between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura. J Mol Evol 62, 693–700 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-005-0165-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-005-0165-5

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