Widespread adaptive evolution of Drosophila genes with sex-biased expression.

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 multilocus 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 dive

SUBMITTER: Proschel M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1602082 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature