Slip-sliding away: Serial changes and homoplasy in repeat number in the Drosophila yakuba homolog of human cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2
Abstract
Several recent studies have examined the function and evolution of a Drosophila homolog
to the human breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2, named dmbrca2. We previously
identified what appeared to be a recent expansion in the RAD51-binding BRC-repeat
array in the ancestor of Drosophila yakuba. In this study, we examine patterns of
variation and evolution of the dmbrca2 BRC-repeat array within D. yakuba and its close
relatives. We develop a model of how unequal crossing over may have produced the expanded
form, but we also observe short repeat forms, typical of other species in the D. melanogaster
group, segregating within D. yakuba and D. santomea. These short forms do not appear
to be identical-by-descent, suggesting that the history of dmbrca2 in the D. melanogaster
subgroup has involved repeat unit contractions resulting in homoplasious forms. We
conclude that the evolutionary history of dmbrca2 in D. yakuba and perhaps in other
Drosophila species may be more complicated than can be inferred from examination of
the published single genome sequences per species. © 2010 Bennett et al.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4545Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0011006Publication Info
Bennett, Sarah M; Mercer, John M; & Noor, Mohamed AF (2010). Slip-sliding away: Serial changes and homoplasy in repeat number in the Drosophila
yakuba homolog of human cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2. PLoS ONE, 5(6). pp. e11006. 10.1371/journal.pone.0011006. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4545.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
John M. Mercer
Professor of the Practice of Biology
Mohamed A. F. Noor
Professor of Biology
Research in my laboratory strives to understand what genetic changes contribute to
the formation of new species, what maintains fitness-related variation in natural
populations, and how the process of genetic recombination affects both species formation
and molecular evolution. Our approaches combine classical genetic, molecular genetic,
and genomic/ bioinformatic analyses, along with occasional forays into areas like
animal behavior (in relation to speciation). I am also very interested in help
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