Evolution and expression of BMP genes in flies

• Published in: Development genes and evolution Vol. 223; no. 5; pp. 335 - 340
• Main Authors: Wotton, Karl R, Alcaine Colet, Anna, Jaeger, Johannes, Jimenez-Guri, Eva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.09.2013; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Bibionomorpha; Biomedical and Life Sciences; blastoderm; bone morphogenetic proteins; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins - genetics; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins - metabolism; Brachycera; Cell Biology; Clogmia albipunctata; Developmental Biology; Diptera; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - metabolism; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - metabolism; Evolution, Molecular; Evolutionary Biology; genes; Life Sciences; Nematocera; Phylogeny; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Psychodidae; Sequence Corner; Transcriptome; Zoology; Phylogenetic analysis; Gene duplication; Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs); Diptera
• ISSN: 0949-944X; 1432-041X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00427-013-0445-9

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play key roles in development. In Drosophila melanogaster, there are three BMP-encoding genes: decapentaplegic (dpp), glass bottom boat (gbb) and screw (scw). dpp and gbb are found in all groups of insects. In contrast, the origin of scw via duplication of an ancestral gbb homologue is more recent, with new evidence placing it within the Diptera. Recent studies show that scw appeared basal to the Schizophora, since scw orthologues exist in aschizan cyclorrhaphan flies. In order to further localise the origin of scw, we have utilised new genomic resources for the nematoceran moth midge Clogmia albipunctata (Psychodidae). We identified the BMP subclass members dpp and gbb from an early embryonic transcriptome and show that their expression patterns in the blastoderm differ considerably from those seen in cyclorrhaphan flies. Further searches of the genome of C. albipunctata were unable to identify a scw-like gbb duplicate, but confirm the presence of dpp and gbb. Our phylogenetic analysis shows these to be clear orthologues of dpp and gbb from other non-cyclorrhaphan insects, with C. albipunctata gbb branching ancestrally to the cyclorrhaphan gbb/scw split. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that scw is absent from all Nematocera, including the Bibionomorpha. We conclude that the gbb/scw duplication occurred between the separation of the lineage leading to Brachycera and the origin of cyclorrhaphan flies 200–150 Ma ago.