Molecular polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans: what have we learned from recent studies?
We present a review of recent studies of molecular polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. The availability of African and non-African samples for these species makes it possible to compare microsatellite and DNA sequence polymorphism between these species, both inside and outside their native regions. There are four main results: (i) variability is larger in African populations; (ii) variation is usually higher on the autosomes, except for African D. melanogaster; (iii) DNA sequence variation is higher on D. simulans than on D. melanogaster autosomes; (iv) the ratio of replacement to silent polymorphisms is higher for D. melanogaster autosomal loci. We summarize the main hypotheses put forward to explain these results.
Mousset
Sylvain
S
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Université Paris VI, CNRS UMR 7625, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. mousset@zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de
Derome
Nicolas
N
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D014644:Genetic Variation; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D014960:X Chromosome
D004247:DNA