Accelerated sequence divergence of conserved genomic elements in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Recent genomic sequencing of 10 additional Drosophila genomes provides a rich resource for comparative genomics analyses aimed at understanding the similarities and differences between species and between Drosophila and mammals. Using a phylogenetic approach, we identified 64 genomic elements that have been highly conserved over most of the Drosophila tree, but that have experienced a recent burst of evolution along the Drosophila melanogaster lineage. Compared to similarly defined elements in humans, these regions of rapid lineage-specific evolution in Drosophila differ dramatically in location, mechanism of evolution, and functional properties of associated genes. Notably, the majority reside in protein-coding regions and primarily result from rapid adaptive synonymous site evolution. In

SUBMITTER: Holloway AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2556263 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature