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Natural Selection Favors a Newly Derived timeless Allele in Drosophila melanogaster
Eran Tauber,1*Mauro Zordan,2*Federica Sandrelli,2*Mirko Pegoraro,1,2Nicolò Osterwalder,2Carlo Breda,1,2Andrea Daga,2Alessandro Selmin,1,2Karen Monger,1Clara Benna,2Ezio Rosato,1Charalambos P. Kyriacou,1Rodolfo Costa2
Circadian and other natural clock-like endogenous rhythms mayhave evolved to anticipate regular temporal changes in the environment.We report that a mutation in the circadian clock gene timelessin Drosophila melanogaster has arisen and spread by naturalselection relatively recently in Europe. We found that, whenintroduced into different genetic backgrounds, natural and artificialalleles of the timeless gene affect the incidence of diapausein response to changes in light and temperature. The naturalmutant allele alters an important life history trait that mayenhance the fly's adaptation to seasonal conditions.
1 Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. 2 Department of Biology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
Present address: Department of Pharmacology, University of Padova,Largo Meneghetti 2, 35131 Padova, Italy.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cpk{at}leicester.ac.uk
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Present address: Department of Pharmacology, University of Padova, Largo Meneghetti 2, 35131 Padova, Italy. 
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: 
