Positive and relaxed selection associated with flight evolution and loss in insect transcriptomes.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of powered flight is a major innovation that has facilitated the success of insects. Previously, studies of birds, bats, and insects have detected molecular signatures of differing selection regimes in energy-related genes associated with flight evolution and/or loss. Here, using DNA sequences from more than 1000 nuclear and mitochondrial protein-coding genes obtained from insect transcriptomes, we conduct a broader exploration of which gene categories display positive and relaxed selection at the origin of flight as well as with multiple independent losses of flight. We detected a number of categories of nuclear genes more often under positive selection in the lineage leading to the winged insects (Pterygota), related to catabolic processes such as proteases, as well as spli

SUBMITTER: Mitterboeck TF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5632299 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature