E. Sucena et Dl. Stern, Divergence of larval morphology between Drosophila sechellia and its sibling species caused by cis-regulatory evolution of ovo/shaven-baby, P NAS US, 97(9), 2000, pp. 4530-4534
Citations number
37
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary
Journal title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
We report an extreme morphological difference between Drosophila sechellia
and related species of the pattern of hairs on first-instar larvae. On the
dorsum of most species, the posterior region of the anterior compartment of
most segments is covered by a carpet of fine hairs. In D. sechellia, these
hairs have been lost and replaced with naked cuticle. Genetic mapping expe
riments and interspecific complementation tests indicate that this differen
ce is caused, in its entirety, by evolution at the ovo/shaven-baby locus. T
he pattern of expression of the ovo/shaven-baby transcript is correlated wi
th this morphological change. The altered dorsal cuticle pattern is probabl
y caused by evolution of the cis-regulatory region of ovo/shaven-baby in th
e D. sechellia lineage.