title: Mutations in the neverland gene turned Drosophila pachea into an obligate specialist species.
abstract: Most living species exploit a limited range of resources. However, little is known about how tight associations build up during evolution between such specialist species and the hosts they use. We examined the dependence of Drosophila pachea on its single host, the senita cactus. Several amino acid changes in the Neverland oxygenase rendered D. pachea unable to transform cholesterol into 7-dehydrocholesterol (the first reaction in the steroid hormone biosynthetic pathway in insects) and thus made D. pachea dependent on the uncommon sterols of its host plant. The neverland mutations increase survival on the cactus's unusual sterols and are in a genomic region that faced recent positive selection. This study illustrates how relatively few genetic changes in a single gene may restrict the ecological niche of a species.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR7592, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murat
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Géraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gouppil
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blais
authors.forename: Luciano M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Matzkin
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guittard
authors.forename: Takuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshiyama-Yanagawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.forename: Ryusuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lafont
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dauphin-Villemant
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Orgogozo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D029421:Cactaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003684:Dehydrocholesterols / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020387:Food Chain; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D034622:RNA Interference; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D003684:Dehydrocholesterols; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C516399:nvd protein, Drosophila; D002784:Cholesterol; C016705:7-dehydrocholesterol; D010105:Oxygenases