Haplotype structure and expression divergence at the Drosophila cellular immune gene eater.

ABSTRACT: The protein Eater plays an important role in microbial recognition and defensive phagocytosis in Drosophila melanogaster. We sequenced multiple alleles of the eater gene from an African and a North American population of D. melanogaster and found signatures of a partial selective sweep in North America that is localized around the second intron. This pattern is consistent with local adaptation to novel selective pressures during range expansion out of Africa. The North American sample is divided into two predominant haplotype groups, and the putatively selected haplotype is associated with a significantly higher gene expression level, suggesting that gene regulation is a possible target of selection. The eater alleles contain from 22 to 40 repeat units that are characterized by the presenc

SUBMITTER: Juneja P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2944027 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature