title: Speculations on the subject of alcohol dehydrogenase and its properties in Drosophila and other flies.
abstract: The alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) and their genes (Adh) of Drosophila have been much studied by population and evolutionary biologists. I attempt to put some of these studies into a broad adaptionist perspective, suggesting the co-evolution of this enzyme with the fleshy fruits of angiosperms and fermenting yeasts. I suggest that these events occurred at about the K/T boundary (65 million years ago) and that the typical Drosophila (as exemplified by D. melanogaster) evolved from flies unable to use fermenting substrates as breeding sites. I also hint that the ADH enzymes of other flies (e.g., the tephritid fruit flies) may have evolved independently of those of Drosophila, but from a common ancestral gene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, England. m.ashburner@gen.cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashburner
mesh_terms: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004175:Diptera / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase