Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 31, Issue 10, Pages 2612-2623Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msu203
Keywords
Y chromosome; Drosophila; positive selection; purifying selection
Funding
- NIH [R01 GM64590]
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico-CNPq
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro-FAPERJ
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Y chromosomes, with their reduced effective population size, lack of recombination, and male-limited transmission, present a unique collection of constraints for the operation of natural selection. Male-limited transmission may greatly increase the efficacy of selection for male-beneficial mutations, but the reduced effective size also inflates the role of random genetic drift. Together, these defining features of the Y chromosome are expected to influence rates and patterns of molecular evolution on the Y as compared with X-linked or autosomal loci. Here, we use sequence data from 11 genes in 9 Drosophila species to gain insight into the efficacy of natural selection on the Drosophila Y relative to the rest of the genome. Drosophila is an ideal system for assessing the consequences of Y-linkage for molecular evolution in part because the gene content of Drosophila Y chromosomes is highly dynamic, with orthologous genes being Y-linked in some species whereas autosomal in others. Our results confirm the expectation that the efficacy of natural selection at weakly selected sites is reduced on the Y chromosome. In contrast, purifying selection on the Y chromosome for strongly deleterious mutations does not appear to be compromised. Finally, we find evidence of recurrent positive selection for 4 of the 11 genes studied here. Our results thus highlight the variable nature of the mode and impact of natural selection on the Drosophila Y chromosome.
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