Fast protein evolution and germ line expression of a Drosophila parental gene and its young retroposed paralog

Abstract

This is the first detailed study of the evolution, phylogenetic distribution, and transcription of one young retroposed gene, CG13732, and its parental gene CG15645, whose functions are unknown. CG13732 is a recognizable retroposed copy of CG15645 retaining the signals of this process. We name the parental gene Cervantes and the retrogene Quijote. To determine when this duplication occurred and the phylogenetic distribution of Quijote, we employed polymerase chain reaction, Southern blotting, and the available information on sequenced Drosophila genomes. Interestingly, these analyses revealed that Quijote is present only in 4 species of Drosophila (Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans, Drosophila sechellia, and Drosophila mauritiana) and that retroposed copies of Cervantes have also originated in the lineages leading to Drosophila yakuba and Drosophila erecta independently in the 3 instances. We name the new retrogene in the D. yakuba lineage Rocinante and the new retrogene in the D. erecta lineage Sancho. In this work, we present data on Quijote and its parental gene Cervantes. Polymorphism analysis of the derived gene and divergence data for both parental and derived genes were used to determine that both genes likely produce functional proteins and that they are changing at a fast rate (KA/KS approximately 0.38). The negative value of H of Fay and Wu in the non-African sample reveals an excess of derived variants at high frequency. This could be explained either by positive selection in the region or by demographic effects. The comparative expression pattern shows that both genes express in the same adult tissues (male and female germ line) in D. melanogaster. Quijote is also expressed in male and female in D. simulans, D. sechellia, and D. mauritiana. We argue that the fast rate of evolution of these genes could be related to their putative germ line function and are further studying the independent recruitment of Cervantes-derived retrogenes in multiple lineages.