UMass Chan Affiliations
Program in Molecular MedicineProgram in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2013-04-01Keywords
DNA Transposable ElementsRNA, Small Interfering
Biochemistry
Evolution
Genetics and Genomics
Molecular Genetics
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Uncontrolled transposable element (TE) insertions and excisions can cause chromosome breaks and mutations with dramatic deleterious effects. The PIWI interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway functions as an adaptive TE silencing system during germline development. Several essential piRNA pathway proteins appear to be rapidly evolving, suggesting that TEs and the silencing machinery may be engaged in a classical "evolutionary arms race." Using a variety of molecular evolutionary and population genetic approaches, we find that the piRNA pathway genes rhino, krimper, and aubergine show patterns suggestive of extensive recurrent positive selection across Drosophila species. We speculate that selection on these proteins reflects crucial roles in silencing unfamiliar elements during vertical and horizontal transmission of TEs into naive populations and species, respectively.Source
Evolution. 2013 Apr;67(4):1081-90. doi: 10.1111/evo.12011. Epub 2013 Jan 17. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1111/evo.12011Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/28865PubMed ID
23550757Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/evo.12011