Molecular genetic characterization of a locus that contains duplicate Adh genes in Drosophila mojavensis and related species

Abstract

Drosophila mojavensis and other species of the mulleri subgroup contain a duplicate gene encoding the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Studies on the genetic relationship of the two genes using electrophoretic variants show them to be closely linked. We have cloned a 13.5-kb fragment of D. mojavensis DNA into the lambda vector, Charon 30. This fragment contains both Adh genes separated by approximately 2 kb of DNA. The clone hybridized to a single position on chromosome 3 in D. mojavensis following in situ hybridization. It is likely that the genes are tandemly arranged in the genome. One of the two genes shows a complexity in its structure that suggests the close linkage of a pseudogene or part of a gene. The structure of the Adh locus in five species of the mulleri subgroup have been compared by constructing restriction maps of genomic DNA. Two of these species D. arizonensis and D. mojavensis express Adh-1 in the ovaries; the others do not. In comparing these species it is evident that there has been one or two insertions into the region between the Adh genes. It is possible that one of these structural changes is related to the change in Adh tissue-specific expression that has occurred during the evolution of these species.