Molecular characterization and evolution of a gene family encoding both female- and male-specific reproductive proteins in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Gene duplication is an important mechanism for the evolution of new reproductive proteins. However, in most cases, each resulting paralog continues to function within the same sex. To investigate the possibility that seminal fluid proteins arise through duplicates of female reproductive genes that become "co-opted" by males, we screened female reproductive genes in Drosophila melanogaster for cases of duplication in which one of the resulting paralogs produces a protein in males that is transferred to females during mating. We identified a set of three tandemly duplicated genes that encode secreted serine-type endopeptidase homologs, two of which are expressed primarily in the female reproductive tract (RT), whereas the third is expressed specifically in the male RT and encodes a seminal f

SUBMITTER: Sirot LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4032134 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature