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Science 6 February 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5915, pp. 779 - 782
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169123
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Reports

Evolution of the Drosophila Nuclear Pore Complex Results in Multiple Hybrid Incompatibilities

Shanwu Tang1 and Daven C. Presgraves1,2

Speciation often involves the evolution of incompatible gene interactions that cause sterility or lethality in hybrids between populations. These so-called hybrid incompatibilities occur between two or more functionally divergent loci. We show that the nucleoporin 160kDa (Nup160) gene of the fruitfly Drosophila simulans is incompatible with one or more factors on the D. melanogaster X chromosome, causing hybrid lethality. Nup160 encodes a nuclear pore complex protein and shows evidence of adaptive evolution. Furthermore, the protein encoded by Nup160 directly interacts with that of another hybrid lethality gene, Nup96, indicating that at least two lethal hybrid incompatibility genes have evolved as byproducts of divergent coevolution among interacting components of the Drosophila nuclear pore complex.

1 Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
2 Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Colloquium Papers: Genetics and ecological speciation.
D. Schluter and G. L. Conte (2009)
PNAS 106, 9955-9962
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genetics and Lineage-Specific Evolution of a Lethal Hybrid Incompatibility Between Drosophila mauritiana and Its Sibling Species.
M. V. Cattani and D. C. Presgraves (2009)
Genetics 181, 1545-1555
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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