Alternative Starts of Transcription, Several Paralogues, and Almost-fixed Interspecific Differences of the Gene Fruitless in a Hemimetabolous Insect

Overview

Journal J Mol Evol

Specialty Biochemistry

Date 2006 Nov 7

PMID 17086452

Citations 6

Authors

Jana Ustinova

Frieder Mayer

Affiliations

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Abstract

In fruit flies, the gene fruitless (fru) governs the establishment of the potential for male sexual behavior. We partially cloned fru from a hemimetabolous insect for the first time and we compared fru among three closely related and acoustically communicating grasshopper species: Chorthippus biguttulus, C. brunneus, and C. mollis. The fru of grasshoppers is organized similarly to fru of holometabolous insects, with a BTB and Zn-finger domains separated by a nonconserved repetitive linker. As in Drosophila, several transcripts of fru are found in grasshoppers. We also present evidence for the coexistence of several copies of fru in the grasshopper genome. Within species these copies are almost identical and carry almost-fixed species-specific differences. This suggests that the paralogous copies of fru in grasshoppers do not evolve independently from each other.

Citing Articles

Identification and Functional Analysis of the Gene in a Hemimetabolous Insect, .

Wang B, Mao Z, Chen Y, Ying J, Wang H, Sun Z Insects. 2024; 15(4).

PMID: 38667392 PMC: 11050625. DOI: 10.3390/insects15040262.

Doublesex regulates fruitless expression to promote sexual dimorphism of the gonad stem cell niche.

Zhou H, Whitworth C, Pozmanter C, Neville M, Van Doren M PLoS Genet. 2021; 17(3):e1009468.

PMID: 33788836 PMC: 8041189. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009468.

The evolution of novelty in conserved genes; evidence of positive selection in the Drosophila fruitless gene is localised to alternatively spliced exons.

Parker D, Gardiner A, Neville M, Ritchie M, Goodwin S Heredity (Edinb). 2013; 112(3):300-6.

PMID: 24149653 PMC: 3931162. DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2013.106.

The orthologue of the fruitfly sex behaviour gene fruitless in the mosquito Aedes aegypti: evolution of genomic organisation and alternative splicing.

Salvemini M, DAmato R, Petrella V, Aceto S, Nimmo D, Neira M PLoS One. 2013; 8(2):e48554.

PMID: 23418412 PMC: 3572092. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048554.

Conservation of fruitless' role as master regulator of male courtship behaviour from cockroaches to flies.

Clynen E, Ciudad L, Belles X, Piulachs M Dev Genes Evol. 2011; 221(1):43-8.

PMID: 21340608 DOI: 10.1007/s00427-011-0352-x.

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