Tsaur S C, Ting C T, Wu C I
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Mol Biol Evol. 2001 Jan;18(1):22-6. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a003716.
Many genes pertaining to male reproductive functions have been shown to evolve rapidly between species, and evidence increasingly suggest the influence of positive Darwinian selection. The accessory gland protein gene (Acp26Aa) of Drosophila is one such example. In order to understand the mechanism of selection, it is often helpful to examine the pattern of polymorphism. We report here that the level of amino acid polymorphism in the N-terminal quarter of Acp26Aa is high in Drosophila melanogaster and is unprecedented in its sibling species Drosophila mauritiana. We postulate that (1) this N-terminal segment may play a role in sperm competition, and (2) D. mauritiana may have been under much more intense sexual selection than other species. Both postulates have important ramifications and deserve to be tested rigorously.
许多与雄性生殖功能相关的基因已被证明在物种间快速进化，并且越来越多的证据表明存在正达尔文选择的影响。果蝇的附属腺蛋白基因（Acp26Aa）就是这样一个例子。为了理解选择机制，研究多态性模式通常会有所帮助。我们在此报告，在黑腹果蝇中，Acp26Aa N端四分之一区域的氨基酸多态性水平很高，这在其姊妹种毛里求斯果蝇中是前所未有的。我们推测：（1）这个N端片段可能在精子竞争中起作用；（2）毛里求斯果蝇可能比其他物种经历了更强烈的性选择。这两个推测都有重要影响，值得进行严格检验。
