title: Pleiotropic effect of disrupting a conserved sequence involved in a long-range compensatory interaction in the Drosophila Adh gene.
abstract: Recent advances in experimental analyses of the evolution of RNA secondary structures suggest a more complex scenario than that typically considered by Kimura's classical model of compensatory evolution. In this study, we examine one such case in more detail. Previous experimental analysis of long-range compensatory interactions between the two ends of Drosophila Adh mRNA failed to fit the classical model of compensatory evolution. To further investigate and verify long-range pairing in Drosophila Adh with respect to models of compensatory evolution and its potential functional role, we introduced site-directed mutations in the Drosophila melanogaster Adh gene. We explore two alternative hypotheses for why previous analysis of long-range compensatory interactions failed to fit the classical model. Specifically, we investigate whether the disruption of a conserved short-range pairing within Adh exon 2 has an effect on Adh expression or if there is a dual functional role of a conserved sequence in the 3'-UTR in both long-range pairing and the negative regulation of Adh expression. We find that a classical result was not observed due to the pleiotropic effect of changing a nucleotide involved in both long-range base pairing and the negative regulation of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology II, Section of Evolutionary Biology, University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany. baines@zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Baines
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parsch
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stephan
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D020029:Base Pairing; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004330:Drosophila / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005091:Exons; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D017344:Genes, Insect; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases; C073796:ADH protein, Drosophila; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase