Authors: Jin, S.¹; Hu, G.A.²; Qian, Y.H.²; Zhang, L.²; Zhang, J.²; Qiu, G.²; Zeng, Q.T.³; Gui, J.F.⁴

Source: Genetica, Volume 125, Numbers 2-3, November 2005 , pp. 223-230(8)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

Intron loss and its evolutionary significance have been noted in Drosophila. The current study provides another example of intron loss within a single-copy Dfak gene in Drosophila. By using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we amplified about 1.3 kb fragment spanning intron 5–10, located in the position of Tyr kinase (TyK) domain of Dfak gene from Drosophila melanogaster species group, and observed size difference among the amplified DNA fragments from different species. Further sequencing analysis revealed that D. melanogaster and D. simulans deleted an about 60 bp of DNA fragment relative to other 7 Drosophila species, such as D. elegans, D. ficusphila, D. biarmipes, D. takahashii, D. jambulina, D. prostipennis and D. pseudoobscura, and the deleted fragment located precisely in the position of one intron. The data suggested that intron loss might have occurred in the Dfak gene evolutionary process of D. melanogaster and D. simulans of Drosophila melanogaster species group. In addition, the constructed phylogenetic tree based on the Dfak TyK domains clearly revealed the evolutionary relationships between subgroups of Drosophila melanogaster species group, and the intron loss identified from D. melanogaster and D. simulans provides a unique diagnostic tool for taxonomic classification of the melanogaster subgroup from other group of genus Drosophila.

Keywords: Dfak56; Drosophila melanogaster; intron loss; phylogenetic evolution; single-copy nuclear gene

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10709-005-8693-x

Affiliations: 1: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Wuhan Center for Developmental Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China, 2: College of Life Science, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China, 3: College of Life Science, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China, Email: zengqit@hubu.edu.cn 4: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Wuhan Center for Developmental Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China, Email: jfgui@i

Publication date: 2005-11-01

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