Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne - Institut Systématique Évolution Biodiversité (ISYEB),; University of Paris-Saclay - Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes, Comportement, Biodiversité (EGCE)
Diverse traits often covary between species. The possibility that a single mutation could contribute to the evolution of several characters between species is rarely investigated as relatively few cases are dissected at the nucleotide level. Drosophila santomea has evolved additional sex comb sensory teeth on its legs and has lost two sensory bristles on its genitalia. We found that a single nucleotide substitution in an enhancer of the scute gene contributes to both changes. The mutation alters a binding site for the Hox protein Abdominal-B in the developing genitalia, leading to bristle loss, and for another factor in the developing leg, leading to bristle gain. Our study shows that morphological evolution between species can occur through a single nucleotide change affecting several sexually dimorphic traits.
Nagy, Olga and Nuez, Isabelle and Savisaar, Rosina and Peluffo, Alexandre E. and Yassin, Amir and Lang, Michael and Stern, David L. and Matute, Daniel R. and David, Jean R. and Courtier-Orgogozo, Virginie, Correlated Evolution of Two Copulatory Organs via a Single Cis-Regulatory Nucleotide Change (2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3188440 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3188440
This version of the paper has not been formally peer reviewed.
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