Protein sequence evolution underlies interspecies incompatibility of a cell fate determinant.

ABSTRACT: Novel and rapidly evolving genes can integrate into conserved gene networks and play critical roles in development. Understanding how sequence variation across the orthologs of such genes influences functional interactions with the molecular products of older, more conserved genes requires investigation at the level of protein function. Here, we elucidate how protein-coding sequence evolution in oskar, a gene required for primordial germ cell specification and embryonic patterning in fruit flies, has led to functional incompatibility between orthologs from Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila virilis. We generated chimeric versions of oskar comprising different combinations of Oskar protein domains from each species, expressed these chimeric oskar sequences in D. melanogaster, and quanti

SUBMITTER: Rivard EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12324426 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature