Characterization of the structure and evolution of the Adh region of Drosophila hydei

Drosophila of the repleta group have a duplication of the gene which encodes alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). We report the nucleotide sequence of an 8.4-kb region of genomic DNA of Drosophila hydei which includes the entire Adh region. Analysis of this sequence reveals similarity in organization to the Adh region of Drosophila mojavensis and Drosophila mulleri of the mulleri subgroup, with three genes ordered 5' to 3', Adh-psi, Adh-2, Adh-1. Deletion of a nucleotide in the second codon of each pseudogene suggests that the first Adh duplication occurred before the divergence of the hydei and mulleri subgroups. However, Adh-1 and Adh-2 of D. hydei are significantly more alike than Adh-1 and Adh-2 of D. mojavensis. Models to account for the difference in similarity between the coding genes were tested by orthologous and paralogous comparisons of the extent of sequence divergence. A model which proposes that independent duplication events generated Adh-1 and Adh-2 in the two lineages is supported by these data. The D. hydei pseudogene is transcribed and the transcript is processed in a complex manner. An intron of greater than 6.2 kb exists between the first "coding" exon and an upstream exon which is approximately 250 nucleotides in length.