Evolution of a Cytoplasmic Determinant: Evidence for the Biochemical Basis of Functional Evolution of the Novel Germ Line Regulator Oskar.

ABSTRACT: Germ line specification is essential in sexually reproducing organisms. Despite their critical role, the evolutionary history of the genes that specify animal germ cells is heterogeneous and dynamic. In many insects, the gene oskar is required for the specification of the germ line. However, the germ line role of oskar is thought to be a derived role resulting from co-option from an ancestral somatic role. To address how evolutionary changes in protein sequence could have led to changes in the function of Oskar protein that enabled it to regulate germ line specification, we searched for oskar orthologs in 1,565 publicly available insect genomic and transcriptomic data sets. The earliest-diverging lineage in which we identified an oskar ortholog was the order Zygentoma (silverfish and fireb

SUBMITTER: Blondel L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8662646 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature