Genetics. Published Articles Ahead of Print: September 1, 2006, Copyright © 2006
doi:10.1534/genetics.106.058008


A more recent version of this article appeared on October 1, 2006.


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Widespread adaptive evolution of Drosophila genes with sex-biased expression

1 University of Munich

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: parsch{at}zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de.

Submitted on March 8, 2006
Revised on July 21, 2006
Accepted on 9 August 2006


Abstract

Many genes in higher eukaryotes show sexually dimorphic expression, and these genes tend to be among the most divergent between species. In most cases, however, it is not known whether this rapid divergence is caused by positive selection, or if it is due to a relaxation of selective constraint. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we surveyed DNA sequence polymorphism in 91 Drosophila melanogaster genes with male-, female-, or nonsex-biased expression and determined their divergence from the sister species D. simulans. Using several single- and multi-locus statistical tests, we estimated the type and strength of selection influencing the evolution of the proteins encoded by genes of each expression class. Adaptive evolution, as indicated by a relative excess of nonsynonymous divergence between species, was common among the sex-biased genes (both male and female). Male-biased genes, in particular, showed a strong and consistent signal of positive selection, while female-biased genes showed more variation in the type of selection they experience. Genes expressed equally in the two sexes, in contrast, showed no evidence for adaptive evolution between D. melanogaster and D. simulans. This suggests that sexual selection and intersexual co-evolution are the major forces driving genetic differentiation between species.

Key Words: gene expression, positive selection, sexual conflict, sexual selection




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