EVOLUTION OF REGULATORY GENES AND PATTERNS - RELATIONSHIPS TO EVOLUTIONARY RATES AND TO METABOLIC FUNCTIONS

In an effort to understand the forces shaping evolution of regulatory genes and patterns, we have compared data on interspecific differences in enzyme expression patterns among the rapidly evolving Hawaiian pic ture-winged Drosophila to similar data on the more conservative virili s species group. Divergence of regulatory patterns is significantly mo re common in the former group, but cause and effect are difficult to d iscern. Random fixation of regulatory variants in small populations an d/or during speciation may be somewhat more likely than divergence dri ven by selection. Within the picture-winged group, we also have compar ed enzymes that fulfill different metabolic roles. There are highly si gnificant differences between individual enzymes, but no obvious corre lations to functional categories.