title: Natural variation in a Drosophila clock gene and temperature compensation.
abstract: The threonine-glycine (Thr-Gly) encoding repeat within the clock gene period of Drosophila melanogaster is polymorphic in length. The two major variants (Thr-Gly)17 and (Thr-Gly)20 are distributed as a highly significant latitudinal cline in Europe and North Africa. Thr-Gly length variation from both wild-caught and transgenic individuals is related to the flies' ability to maintain a circadian period at different temperatures. This phenomenon provides a selective explanation for the geographical distribution of Thr-Gly lengths and gives a rare glimpse of the interplay between molecular polymorphism, behavior, population biology, and natural selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hennessy
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Peixoto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosato
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Parkinson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Kyriacou
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000235:genetics*; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D017344:Genes, Insect; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005998:Glycine / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D056950:Period Circadian Proteins; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013696:Temperature; D013912:Threonine / Q000235:genetics; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D004151:Dipeptides; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C539040:PER protein, Drosophila; D056950:Period Circadian Proteins; D013912:Threonine; D005998:Glycine