Evidence for recurrent paralogous gene conversion and exceptional allelic divergence in the Attacin genes of Drosophila melanogaster.

Genetics
Brian P Lazzaro, Andrew G Clark

Abstract

Insects produce a limited variety of antibacterial peptides to combat a wide diversity of pathogens. These peptides are often conserved across evolutionarily distant taxa, but little is known about the level and structure of polymorphism within species. We have surveyed naturally occurring genetic variation in the promoter and coding regions of three Attacin antibacterial peptide genes from 12 lines of Drosophila melanogaster. These genes exhibit high levels of silent nucleotide variations (1-3% per nucleotide heterozygosity), but are not excessively polymorphic at the amino acid level. There is extensive variation in the Attacin promoters, some of which may affect transcriptional efficiency, and one line carries a deletion in the Attacin A coding region that renders this gene nonfunctional. Two of the genes, Attacins A and B, are arranged in tandem and show evidence of repeated interlocus gene conversion. Attacin C, more divergent and located 1.3 Mbp upstream of Attacins A and B, does not appear to have been involved in such exchanges. All three genes are characterized by divergent haplotypes, and one Attacin AB allele appears to have recently increased rapidly in frequency in the population.

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Citations

Jun 17, 2008·Current Opinion in Microbiology·Brian P Lazzaro
May 2, 2020·Science·Brian P LazzaroJens Rolff
May 10, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Isabelle Schön, Koen Martens
Jun 16, 2005·Genetics·Justin C Fay, Joseph A Benavides
Dec 14, 2007·Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology·Shinpei KawaokaToru Shimada
Mar 20, 2002·Genetics·Molly Przeworski
Sep 15, 2005·Genetics·Francis M Jiggins, Kang-Wook Kim
May 27, 2008·The Journal of Heredity·Andrey A PerelyginMargo A Brinton
Mar 12, 2004·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Emmanuelle BaudryMichel Veuille
Feb 15, 2003·Genetics·Luciano M Matzkin, Walter F Eanes
Apr 15, 2004·Genetics·Kosuke M Teshima, Hideki Innan
Mar 11, 2010·Genetics·Claudio CasolaMatthew W Hahn
Jun 3, 2009·Nucleic Acids Research·Mark J Lawson, Liqing Zhang
Mar 20, 2004·Science·Brian P LazzaroAndrew G Clark
Nov 6, 2009·Journal of Biomedicine & Biotechnology·Xiao-Juan DengPeilin Xu
Jan 1, 2011·Genes·J Roman Arguello, Tim Connallon
Jul 30, 2011·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Giltae SongWebb Miller

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