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Updated: Jul 20, 2026

An Allele-specific Gene Expression Assay to Test the Functional Basis of Genetic Associations
Published on: November 3, 2010
Sex-dependent gene expression and evolution of the Drosophila transcriptome
José M Ranz1, Cristian I Castillo-Davis, Colin D Meiklejohn
1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Comparison of the gene-expression profiles between adults of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans has uncovered the evolution of genes that exhibit sex-dependent regulation. Approximately half the genes showed differences in expression between the species, and among these, approximately 83% involved a gain, loss, increase, decrease, or reversal of sex-biased expression. Most of the interspecific differences in messenger RNA abundance affect male-biased genes. Genes that differ in expression between the species showed functional clustering only if they were sex-biased. Our results suggest that sex-dependent selection may drive changes in expression of many of the most rapidly evolving genes in the Drosophila transcriptome.
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