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MBE Advance Access originally published online on July 17, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2008 25(9):2043-2053; doi:10.1093/molbev/msn155
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Articles

Evidence of Adaptive Evolution of Accessory Gland Proteins in Closely Related Species of the Drosophila repleta Group

Francisca C. Almeida*,{dagger} and Rob DeSalle*,{dagger}

* Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
{dagger} Department of Biology, New York University

E-mail: falmeida{at}amnh.org.

Accepted for publication July 3, 2008.

Accessory gland proteins (Acps) are part of the seminal fluid of Drosophila species. These proteins have important reproductive functions, being responsible for the proper functioning of several steps of the fertilization process. Acps also contribute indirectly for the reproductive success of males by modulating female behavior. Evidence that Acps participate in sperm competition and sexual conflict includes findings that, on average, Acps have fast evolutionary rates, suggestive of adaptive evolution. This is especially true in species of the Drosophila repleta group. Nevertheless, only in a few occasions have robust statistical tests been used to determine whether observed evolutionary rates are in fact due to positive selection on amino acid substitutions between related species. Here we apply maximum likelihood tests for positive selection on 14 Acps of the D. repleta group. To increase statistical robustness, we use at least 8 sequences, all belonging to species of the Drosophila mulleri complex, for each gene analyzed. We found significant evidence of adaptive evolution for 10 of the tested genes. Among these, the ones with a conserved protein domain had positively selected sites within the functional region of the sequence. We also detected one instance of lineage-specific adaptive evolution in a clade formed by 2 sister species.

Key Words: Acp • Drosophila repleta group • adaptive evolution

Jody Hey, Associate Editor


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