University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
Recurrent and recent selective sweeps in the piRNA pathway
UMMS Affiliation
Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology; Program in Molecular Medicine
Publication Date
2013-4
Document Type
Article
Subjects
DNA Transposable Elements; RNA, Small Interfering
Disciplines
Biochemistry | Evolution | Genetics and Genomics | Molecular Genetics
Abstract
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.
DOI of Published Version
10.1111/evo.12011
Source
Evolution. 2013 Apr;67(4):1081-90. doi: 10.1111/evo.12011. Epub 2013 Jan 17. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
PubMed ID
23550757
Repository Citation
Simkin, Alfred; Wong, Alex; Poh, Yu-Ping; Theurkauf, William E.; and Jensen, Jeffrey D., "Recurrent and recent selective sweeps in the piRNA pathway" (2013). University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. 110.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/110