Length variation in a specific region of the period gene correlates with differences in pupal diapause incidence in the flesh fly, Sarcophaga bullata.
We report differences in the length of a specific region of the circadian clock gene period (per) that correlate with different capacities for pupal diapause in the flesh fly, Sarcophaga bullata. The conspicuous difference is located in a region we refer to as the putative C-terminal photoperiodic (CP) region. The length of the CP region correlates inversely with the incidence of diapause. A deletion of 33 amino acids in this region correlates with a significant increase in the incidence of diapause, from 78.1% to 93.0%, and an insertion of 9 amino acids in the same area correlates with a drop in the diapause incidence to 4.0%. This correlation suggests a possible functional role for this region of per in photoperiodism.
Han
Bing
B
Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, 318W 12th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Denlinger
David L
DL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004175:Diptera / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D014644:Genetic Variation; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011679:Pupa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment
D019476:Insect Proteins