Drosophila americana as a Model Species for Comparative Studies on the Molecular Basis of Phenotypic Variation
Drosophila americana as a Model Species for Comparative Studies on the Molecular Basis of Phenotypic Variation
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DOI：
10.1093/gbe/evt037
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发表时间：
2013-01-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Vieira, Jorge
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Fonseca, Nuno A.;Morales-Hojas, Ramiro;Vieira, Jorge
了解物种内和物种间表型变异的分子基础是生物学的主要目标之一。在果蝇中，关于这一问题的大部分工作都是在D. melanogaster中进行的，但还必须对其他远亲物种进行研究，以验证对该物种获得的发现的普遍性。在这里，我们以美洲果蝇为例，它是果蝇中virilis组的一个物种，从模式物种黑腹果蝇中分化出来大约40万年。为了确定该物种是否适合此类研究，基于迄今为止分析的该物种最大的核苷酸序列多态性数据集（超过100个数据集），对美洲大蠊的多态性和重组进行了估计。该多态性估计也与本文报道的两个美洲D.菌株（H5和W11）基因组组装的比较结果进行了比较。作为这些资源的一般效用的一个例子，我们进行了初步研究的分子基础上的寿命差异在美洲d.a。首先，我们发现在分布范围的不同区域美洲大蠊种群之间存在寿命差异。然后，我们利用先前在黑腹龙中发现的21个候选基因的标记进行了5次F2关联实验。发现两个基因（hep和Lim3）多态性与寿命之间存在显著关联。对于涉及两种测序菌株（H5和W11）的F2关联研究，我们确定了Lim3和Hep的氨基酸差异可能是观察到的寿命变化的原因。这两个基因在两株间的表达差异不明显。
Understanding the molecular basis of within and between species phenotypic variation is one of the main goals of Biology. In Drosophila, most of the work regarding this issue has been performed in D. melanogaster, but other distantly related species must also be studied to verify the generality of the findings obtained for this species. Here, we make the case for D. americana, a species of the virilis group of Drosophila that has been diverging from the model species, D. melanogaster, for approximately 40 Myr. To determine the suitability of this species for such studies, polymorphism and recombination estimates are presented for D. americana based on the largest nucleotide sequence polymorphism data set so far analyzed (more than 100 data sets) for this species. The polymorphism estimates are also compared with those obtained from the comparison of the genome assembly of two D. americana strains (H5 and W11) here reported. As an example of the general utility of these resources, we perform a preliminary study on the molecular basis of lifespan differences in D. americana. First, we show that there are lifespan differences between D. americana populations from different regions of the distribution range. Then, we perform five F2 association experiments using markers for 21 candidate genes previously identified in D. melanogaster. Significant associations are found between polymorphism at two genes (hep and Lim3) and lifespan. For the F2 association study involving the two sequenced strains (H5 and W11), we identify amino acid differences at Lim3 and Hep that could be responsible for the observed changes in lifespan. For both genes, no large gene expression differences were observed between the two strains.