Positive and purifying selection influence the evolution of doublesex in the Anastrepha fraterculus species group.

ABSTRACT: The gene doublesex (dsx) is considered to be under strong selective constraint along its evolutionary history because of its central role in somatic sex differentiation in insects. However, previous studies of dsx used global estimates of evolutionary rates to investigate its molecular evolution, which potentially miss signals of adaptive changes in generally conserved genes. In this work, we investigated the molecular evolution of dsx in the Anastrepha fraterculus species group (Diptera, Tephritidae), and test the hypothesis that this gene evolved solely by purifying selection using divergence-based and population-based methods. In the first approach, we compared sequences from Anastrepha and other Tephritidae with other Muscomorpha species, analyzed variation in nonsynonymous to synonymo

SUBMITTER: Sobrinho IS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3302808 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature