Many Drosophila species differ widely in their distributions and climate niches, making them excellent subjects for evolutionary genomic studies. Here, we have developed a database of high-quality assemblies for 46 Drosophila species and one closely related Zaprionus. Fifteen of the genomes were newly sequenced, and 20 were improved with additional sequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNatural selection can generate parallel latitudinal clines in traits and gene frequencies across continents, but these have rarely been linked. An amino acid (isoleucine to lysine, or I462K) polymorphism of the couch potato (cpo) gene in Drosophila melanogaster is thought to control female reproductive diapause cline in North America (Schmidt et al. 2008, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 105, 16207-16211).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeographic variation in wing shape in female Drosophila serrata was examined by characterizing isofemale strains from 19 localities collected along a transect on the eastern coast of Australia. Shape variation was analyzed by Procrustes superimposition of landmark data followed by canonical variate analysis. The first extracted canonical variate showed a nonlinear association with latitude and accounted for 43% of the variance.
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