Study of the nucleotide composition in Drosophila, focusing on the saltans
and willistoni groups, has revealed unanticipated differences in nucleotide
composition among lineages. Compositional differences are associated with
an accelerated rate of nucleotide substitution in functionally less constra
ined regions. These observations have been set forth against the extended o
pinion that the pattern of point mutation has remained constant during the
evolution of the genus. A crucial assumption has been that the most recent
common ancestor of the subgenus Sophophora had an elevated GC content. Unti
l now, this assumption has been supported by indirect arguments, consisting
of extrapolations from closely related outgroups and limited by the robust
ness of mathematical descriptions concerning the extensive nucleotide compo
sition differences among sequences. The present study seeks to test the ass
umption of a high ancestral GC content using realistic representations of t
he nucleotide substitution process to account for potential biases induced
by the heterogeneous GC content of the taxa. The analysis of eight nuclear
genes unambiguously corroborates that the common ancestor of Sophophora had
an elevated GC content.