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Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene

Although gene expression can vary extensively within and among populations, the genetic basis of this variation and the evolutionary forces that maintain it are largely unknown. In Drosophila melanogaster, a 49-bp insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphism in the Metallothionein A (MtnA) gene is associ...

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Autores principales: Ramnarine, Timothy J. S., Glaser-Schmitt, Amanda, Catalán, Ana, Parsch, John
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6410240/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30769915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10020147
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author Ramnarine, Timothy J. S.
Glaser-Schmitt, Amanda
Catalán, Ana
Parsch, John
author_facet Ramnarine, Timothy J. S.
Glaser-Schmitt, Amanda
Catalán, Ana
Parsch, John
author_sort Ramnarine, Timothy J. S.
collection PubMed
description Although gene expression can vary extensively within and among populations, the genetic basis of this variation and the evolutionary forces that maintain it are largely unknown. In Drosophila melanogaster, a 49-bp insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphism in the Metallothionein A (MtnA) gene is associated with variation in MtnA expression and oxidative stress tolerance. To better understand the functional and evolutionary significance of this polymorphism, we investigated it in several worldwide populations. In a German population, the deletion was present at a high and stable frequency over multiple seasons and years, and was associated with increased MtnA expression. There was, however, no evidence that the polymorphism was maintained by overdominant, seasonally fluctuating, or sexually antagonistic selection. The deletion was rare in a population from the species’ ancestral range in sub-Saharan Africa and is likely the result of non-African admixture, suggesting that it spread to high frequency following the species’ out-of-Africa expansion. Using data from a North American population, we found that the deletion was associated with MtnA expression and tolerance to oxidative stress induced by menadione sodium bisulfite. Our results are consistent with the deletion being selectively favored in temperate populations due to the increased MtnA expression and oxidative stress tolerance that it confers.
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spelling pubmed-64102402019-03-26 Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene Ramnarine, Timothy J. S. Glaser-Schmitt, Amanda Catalán, Ana Parsch, John Genes (Basel) Article Although gene expression can vary extensively within and among populations, the genetic basis of this variation and the evolutionary forces that maintain it are largely unknown. In Drosophila melanogaster, a 49-bp insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphism in the Metallothionein A (MtnA) gene is associated with variation in MtnA expression and oxidative stress tolerance. To better understand the functional and evolutionary significance of this polymorphism, we investigated it in several worldwide populations. In a German population, the deletion was present at a high and stable frequency over multiple seasons and years, and was associated with increased MtnA expression. There was, however, no evidence that the polymorphism was maintained by overdominant, seasonally fluctuating, or sexually antagonistic selection. The deletion was rare in a population from the species’ ancestral range in sub-Saharan Africa and is likely the result of non-African admixture, suggesting that it spread to high frequency following the species’ out-of-Africa expansion. Using data from a North American population, we found that the deletion was associated with MtnA expression and tolerance to oxidative stress induced by menadione sodium bisulfite. Our results are consistent with the deletion being selectively favored in temperate populations due to the increased MtnA expression and oxidative stress tolerance that it confers. MDPI 2019-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6410240/ /pubmed/30769915 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10020147 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ramnarine, Timothy J. S.
Glaser-Schmitt, Amanda
Catalán, Ana
Parsch, John
Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene
title Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene
title_full Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene
title_fullStr Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene
title_full_unstemmed Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene
title_short Population Genetic and Functional Analysis of a cis-Regulatory Polymorphism in the Drosophila melanogaster Metallothionein A gene
title_sort population genetic and functional analysis of a cis-regulatory polymorphism in the drosophila melanogaster metallothionein a gene
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6410240/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30769915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10020147
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