Dataset Information

Surprising differences in the variability of Y chromosomes in African and cosmopolitan populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: The nonrecombining Drosophila melanogaster Y chromosome is heterochromatic and has few genes. Despite these limitations, there remains ample opportunity for natural selection to act on the genes that are vital for male fertility and on Y factors that modulate gene expression elsewhere in the genome. Y chromosomes of many organisms have low levels of nucleotide variability, but a formal survey of D. melanogaster Y chromosome variation had yet to be performed. Here we surveyed Y-linked variation in six populations of D. melanogaster spread across the globe. We find surprisingly low levels of variability in African relative to Cosmopolitan (i.e., non-African) populations. While the low levels of Cosmopolitan Y chromosome polymorphism can be explained by the demographic histories of these populations, the staggeringly low polymorphism of African Y chromosomes cannot be explained by demographic history. An explanation that is entirely consistent with the data is that the Y chromosomes of Zimbabwe and Uganda populations have experienced recent selective sweeps. Interestingly, the Zimbabwe and Uganda Y chromosomes differ: in Zimbabwe, a European Y chromosome appears to have swept through the population.

SUBMITTER: Larracuente AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3527246 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Surprising differences in the variability of Y chromosomes in African and cosmopolitan populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

Larracuente Amanda M AM Clark Andrew G AG

Genetics 20121019 1

The nonrecombining Drosophila melanogaster Y chromosome is heterochromatic and has few genes. Despite these limitations, there remains ample opportunity for natural selection to act on the genes that are vital for male fertility and on Y factors that modulate gene expression elsewhere in the genome. Y chromosomes of many organisms have low levels of nucleotide variability, but a formal survey of D. melanogaster Y chromosome variation had yet to be performed. Here we surveyed Y-linked variation i ...[more]

PMID: 23086221

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Project description:Background: Differences in levels of gene expression among individuals are an important source of phenotypic variation within populations. Recent microarray studies have revealed that expression variation is abundant in many species, including Drosophila melanogaster. However, previous expression surveys in this species generally focused on a small number of laboratory strains established from derived populations. Thus, these studies were not ideal for population genetic analyses. Results: We surveyed gene expression variation in adult males of 16 D. melanogaster strains from two natural populations, including an ancestral African population and a derived European population. Levels of expression polymorphism were nearly equal in the two populations, but a higher number of differences was detected when comparing strains between populations. Expression variation was greatest for genes associated with few molecular functions or biological processes, as well as those expressed predominantly in males. Our analysis also identified genes that differed in expression level between the European and African populations, which may be candidates for adaptive regulatory evolution. Genes involved in flight musculature and fatty acid metabolism were over-represented in the list of candidates. Conclusions: Overall, stabilizing selection appears to be the major force governing gene expression variation within populations. However, positive selection may be responsible for much of the between-population expression divergence. The nature of the genes identified to differ in expression between populations may reveal which traits were important for local adaptation to the European and African environments. We used dual channel microarrays to compare genome-wide expression profiles in adult males from 16 inbred strains derived from two natural populations. In total 80 hybidizations were performed including dye-swaps. The hybridization scheme consisted of a balanced loop design, which allowed an unbiased comparison of relative expression levels within and between populations.

Dataset Information

Surprising differences in the variability of Y chromosomes in African and cosmopolitan populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

Publications

Surprising differences in the variability of Y chromosomes in African and cosmopolitan populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

Similar Datasets

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