Conserved regulatory architecture underlies parallel genetic changes and convergent phenotypic evolution.

ABSTRACT: Similar morphological, physiological, and behavioral features have evolved independently in different species, a pattern known as convergence. It is known that morphological convergence can occur through changes in orthologous genes. In some cases of convergence, cis-regulatory changes generate parallel modifications in the expression patterns of orthologous genes. Our understanding of how changes in cis-regulatory regions contribute to convergence is hampered, usually, by a limited understanding of the global cis-regulatory structure of the evolving genes. Here we examine the genetic causes of a case of precise phenotypic convergence between Drosophila sechellia and Drosophila ezoana, species that diverged ~40 Mya. Previous studies revealed that changes in multiple transcriptional enhance

SUBMITTER: Frankel N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3529038 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature