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A single gene causes both male sterility and segregation distortion in Drosophila hybrids.

ABSTRACT: A central goal of evolutionary biology is to identify the genes and evolutionary forces that cause speciation, the emergence of reproductive isolation between populations. Despite the identification of several genes that cause hybrid sterility or inviability-many of which have evolved rapidly under positive Darwinian selection-little is known about the ecological or genomic forces that drive the evolution of postzygotic isolation. Here, we show that the same gene, Overdrive, causes both male sterility and segregation distortion in F1 hybrids between the Bogota and U.S. subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura. This segregation distorter gene is essential for hybrid sterility, a strong reproductive barrier between these young taxa. Our results suggest that genetic conflict may be an important evolutionary force in speciation.

SUBMITTER: Phadnis N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2628965 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A single gene causes both male sterility and segregation distortion in Drosophila hybrids.

Phadnis Nitin N Orr H Allen HA

Science (New York, N.Y.) 20081211 5912

A central goal of evolutionary biology is to identify the genes and evolutionary forces that cause speciation, the emergence of reproductive isolation between populations. Despite the identification of several genes that cause hybrid sterility or inviability-many of which have evolved rapidly under positive Darwinian selection-little is known about the ecological or genomic forces that drive the evolution of postzygotic isolation. Here, we show that the same gene, Overdrive, causes both male ste ...[more]

PMID: 19074311

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Project description:BACKGROUND: The novel chimeric open reading frame (orf) resulting from the rearrangement of a mitochondrial genome is generally thought to be a causal factor in the occurrence of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). Both positive and negative correlations have been found between CMS-associated orfs and the occurrence of CMS when CMS-associated orfs were expressed and targeted at mitochondria. Some orfs cause male sterility or semi-sterility, while some do not. Little is currently known about how mitochondrial factor regulates the expression of the nuclear genes involved in male sterility. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biological function of a candidate CMS-associated orf220 gene, newly isolated from cytoplasmic male-sterile stem mustard, and show how mitochondrial retrograde regulated nuclear gene expression is related to male sterility. RESULTS: It was shown that the ORF220 protein can be guided to the mitochondria using the mitochondrial-targeting sequence of the ? subunit of F1-ATPase (atp2-1). Transgenic stem mustard plants expressed the chimeric gene containing the orf220 gene and a mitochondrial-targeting sequence of the ? subunit of F1-ATPase (atp2-1). Transgenic plants were male-sterile, most being unable to produce pollen while some could only produce non-vigorous pollen. The transgenic stem mustard plants also showed aberrant floral development identical to that observed in the CMS stem mustard phenotype. Results obtained from oligooarray analysis showed that some genes related to mitochondrial energy metabolism were down-regulated, indicating a weakening of mitochondrial function in transgenic stem mustard. Some genes related to pollen development were shown to be down-regulated in transgenic stem mustard and the expression of some transcription factor genes was also altered. CONCLUSION: The work presented furthers our understanding of how the mitochondrially-targeted expression of CMS-associated orf220 gene causes male sterility through retrograde regulation of nuclear gene expression in Brassica juncea.

Dataset Information

A single gene causes both male sterility and segregation distortion in Drosophila hybrids.

Publications

A single gene causes both male sterility and segregation distortion in Drosophila hybrids.

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