A Burst of Genetic Innovation in Drosophila Actin-Related Proteins for Testis-Specific Function.

ABSTRACT: Many cytoskeletal proteins perform fundamental biological processes and are evolutionarily ancient. For example, the superfamily of actin-related proteins (Arps) specialized early in eukaryotic evolution for diverse cellular roles in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Despite its strict conservation across eukaryotes, we find that the Arp superfamily has undergone dramatic lineage-specific diversification in Drosophila. Our phylogenomic analyses reveal four independent Arp gene duplications that occurred in the common ancestor of the obscura group of Drosophila and have been mostly preserved in this lineage. All four obscura-specific Arp paralogs are predominantly expressed in the male germline and have evolved under positive selection. We focus our analyses on the divergent Arp2D paralog, whi

SUBMITTER: Schroeder CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7038667 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature