Sex-specific methylation in Drosophila: an investigation of the Sophophora subgenus

• Published in: Genetica Vol. 138; no. 8; pp. 907 - 913
• Main Authors: D'Ávila, Marícia Fantinel, Garcia, Rosane Nunes, Panzera, Yanina, Valente, Vera Lúcia da Silva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01-08-2010; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA methylation; DNA Methylation - genetics; Drosophila; Drosophila - classification; Drosophila - genetics; Drosophila - physiology; epigenetics; Evolution, Molecular; Evolutionary Biology; Female; Genome, Insect - genetics; Human Genetics; Life Sciences; Male; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Original Research; Phylogeny; Plant Genetics and Genomics; rDNA; Sex Characteristics; Sophophora subgenus; Species Specificity; Vertebrates; subgenus; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; rDNA
• ISSN: 0016-6707; 1573-6857
• DOI: 10.1007/s10709-010-9473-9

Epigenetic phenomena have been widely characterized in the genomes of vertebrates and DNA methylation is a key mechanism of epigenetic regulation. The DNA methylation systems of invertebrates and vertebrates show several notable differences. However, the evolutionary implications of those differences only recently began to be revealed. Our study investigated the recurrence of sex-specific methylation, as previously described for the species Drosophila willistoni, in other species of the Sophophora subgenus that present close evolutionary relationship. The MSRE and Southern blot techniques were used to analyze rDNA of some species of the willistoni, melanogaster, saltans and obscura groups of Drosophila and the results suggested that differential DNA methylation between sexes only occurs in Drosophila tropicalis and D. insularis, two sibling species of the willistoni subgroup. However, only using the MSRE technique we could detect sex-specific patterns of DNA methylation in all species of willistoni subgroup. These results indicate that DNA methylation may present important differences, even between closely related species, shedding new light on this Neotropical species complex.