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Conservation of male-specific expression of novel phosphoprotein phosphatases in Drosophila

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Abstract

In the genome of Drosophila melanogaster, there are 19 phosphoprotein phosphatase (PPP) catalytic subunit coding genes. Seven of the novel members of the gene family turned out to be Drosophila-specific. The expression and evolution of these genes was investigated in the present study. CG11597 is a recently evolved gene that is expressed during all stages of morphogenesis in D. melanogaster. In contrast, the transcription of PpD5, PpD6, Pp1-Y1, and Pp1-Y2 genes is restricted to the pupa and imago developmental stages and to the testis of the males, just as that of the previously characterized PpY-55A and PpN58A. With the exception of the Y-localized Pp1-Y1 and Pp1-Y2, the testis-specific phosphatase genes are expressed in X/0 males, while none of them are expressed in XX/Y females. The mRNA of PpD5, Pp1-Y1, and PpY-55A were detected in the developing cysts by in situ hybridization, in contrast with the PpD6 transcript that was found in the distal ends of elongating spermatids. The latter localization suggests post-meiotic expression. The comparison of PPP genes in five Drosophila species revealed that the sequence of the six testis-specific phosphatases changed more rapidly than that of the housekeeping phosphatases. Our results support the “faster male” hypothesis. On the other hand, the male-biased expression of the six genes remained conserved during evolution despite the fact that Pp1-Y1, Pp1-Y2, and PpD6 moved from autosomes to the Y chromosome. Interestingly, the PpD6 gene was found to be Y-linked only in Drosophila ananassae.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Fund of Hungary (OTKA 060723). The authors are grateful to Dr. János Szabad (Department of Medical Biology, University of Szeged, Hungary) for supplying the mutant Drosophila strains and for helpful discussions. The participation of Mr. László Kovács (Department of Medical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Hungary) in some of the RT-PCR experiments is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell Biology and Signaling Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Department of Medical Chemistry, Research Center for Molecular Medicine, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary

    Csaba Ádám & Viktor Dombrádi

  2. Institute of Genetics, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Temesvári krt. 62, 6701, Szeged, Hungary

    László Henn & Miklós Erdélyi

  3. Department of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary

    Márton Miskei

  4. Institute of Enzymology, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Karolina út 29, 1113, Budapest, Hungary

    Péter Friedrich

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  1. Csaba Ádám
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  2. László Henn
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  3. Márton Miskei
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  4. Miklós Erdélyi
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  5. Péter Friedrich
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  6. Viktor Dombrádi
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Correspondence to Viktor Dombrádi.

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Communicated by C. Desplan

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Ádám, C., Henn, L., Miskei, M. et al. Conservation of male-specific expression of novel phosphoprotein phosphatases in Drosophila . Dev Genes Evol 220, 123–128 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-010-0332-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-010-0332-6

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