A latitudinal cline in a Drosophila clock gene.
The clock gene period determines biological rhythmicity in Drosophila melanogaster and encodes a protein characterized by an alternating series of threonine-glycine pairs. The minisatellite region encoding the threonine-glycine repeat is polymorphic in length in natural Drosophila melanogaster populations. In this paper we report the geographical analysis of this polymorphism within Europe and North Africa. A robust clinal pattern is observed along a north-south axis. We suggest the possibility that the length polymorphism could be maintained by thermal selection because the threonine-glycine region has been shown to provide thermostability to the circadian phenotype.
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, Italy.
R
R
Costa
A A
AA
Peixoto
G
G
Barbujani
C P
CP
Kyriacou
D000352:Africa, Northern; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000235:genetics*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
D004276:DNA, Satellite; D011506:Proteins