title: Strong purifying selection on the Odysseus gene in two clades of sibling species of the Drosophila montium species subgroup.
abstract: The Odysseus (OdsH) gene was duplicated from its ancestral neuron-expressed gene, unc-4, and then evolved very rapidly under strong positive Darwinian selection as a speciation gene causing hybrid-male sterility between closely related species of the Drosophila simulans clade. Has OdsH also experienced similar positive selection between Drosophila sibling species other than those of the simulans clade? We cloned and sequenced OdsH and unc-4 from two clades of the Drosophila montium species subgroup, the Drosophila lini and the Drosophila kikkawai clades. The ratios of Ka/Ks for OdsH were remarkably low between sibling species of these two clades, suggesting that OdsH has been subjected to strong purifying selection in these two clades.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, P.R. China. shywen@scau.edu.cn
authors.forename: Shuo-Yang
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Kimio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Kuniko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Masanori J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Toda
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013045:Species Specificity