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Is esterase-P encoded by a cryptic pseudogene in Drosophila melanogaster?

ABSTRACT: We have amplified and sequenced the gene encoding Esterase-P (Est-P) in 10 strains of Drosophila melanogaster. Three premature termination codons occur in the coding region of the gene in two strains. This observation, together with other indirect evidence, leads us to propose that Est-P may be a pseudogene in D. melanogaster. Est-P would be a "cryptic" pseudogene, in the sense that it retains intact the coding sequence (without stop codons and other alterations usually observed in pseudogenes) in most D. melanogaster strains. We conjecture that the beta-esterase cluster may consist in other Drosophila species of functional and nonfunctional genes. We also conjecture that the rarity of detected pseudogenes in Drosophila may be due to the difficulty of discovering them, because most of them are cryptic.

SUBMITTER: Balakirev ES

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1207704 | biostudies-other | 1996 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Is esterase-P encoded by a cryptic pseudogene in Drosophila melanogaster?

Balakirev E S ES Ayala F J FJ

Genetics 19961201 4

We have amplified and sequenced the gene encoding Esterase-P (Est-P) in 10 strains of Drosophila melanogaster. Three premature termination codons occur in the coding region of the gene in two strains. This observation, together with other indirect evidence, leads us to propose that Est-P may be a pseudogene in D. melanogaster. Est-P would be a "cryptic" pseudogene, in the sense that it retains intact the coding sequence (without stop codons and other alterations usually observed in pseudogenes) ...[more]

PMID: 8978040

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Project description:Recent studies on nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes (N-mt genes) in Drosophila melanogaster have shown a unique pattern of expression for newly duplicated N-mt genes, with many duplicates having a testis-biased expression and playing an essential role in spermatogenesis. In this study, we investigated a newly duplicated N-mt gene-i.e., Cytochrome c oxidase 4-like (COX4L)-in order to understand its function and, consequently, the reason behind its retention in the D. melanogaster genome. The COX4L gene is a duplicate of the Cytochrome c oxidase 4 (COX4) gene of OXPHOS complex IV. While the parental COX4 gene has been found in all eukaryotes, including single-cell eukaryotes such as yeast, we show that COX4L is only present in the Brachycera suborder of Diptera; thus, both genes are present in all Drosophila species, but have significantly different patterns of expression: COX4 is highly expressed in all tissues, while COX4L has a testis-specific expression. To understand the function of this new gene, we first knocked down its expression in the D. melanogaster germline using two different RNAi lines driven by the bam-Gal4 driver; second, we created a knockout strain for this gene using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Our results showed that knockdown and knockout lines of COX4L produce partial sterility and complete sterility in males, respectively, where a lack of sperm individualization was observed in both cases. Male infertility was prevented by driving COX4L-HA in the germline, but not when driving COX4-HA. In addition, ectopic expression of COX4L in the soma caused embryonic lethality, while overexpression in the germline led to a reduction in male fertility. COX4L-KO mitochondria show reduced membrane potential, providing a plausible explanation for the male sterility observed in these flies. This prominent loss-of-function phenotype, along with its testis-biased expression and its presence in the Drosophila sperm proteome, suggests that COX4L is a paralogous, specialized gene that is assembled in OXPHOS complex IV of male germline cells and/or sperm mitochondria.

Dataset Information

Is esterase-P encoded by a cryptic pseudogene in Drosophila melanogaster?

Publications

Is esterase-P encoded by a cryptic pseudogene in Drosophila melanogaster?

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