Abstract
The threonine-glycine (Thr-Gly) encoding repeat within the clock gene period of Drosophila melanogaster is polymorphic in length. The two major variants (Thr-Gly)17 and (Thr-Gly)20 are distributed as a highly significant latitudinal cline in Europe and North Africa. Thr-Gly length variation from both wild-caught and transgenic individuals is related to the flies' ability to maintain a circadian period at different temperatures. This phenomenon provides a selective explanation for the geographical distribution of Thr-Gly lengths and gives a rare glimpse of the interplay between molecular polymorphism, behavior, population biology, and natural selection.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Alleles
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Circadian Rhythm / genetics*
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Dipeptides / genetics*
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Drosophila Proteins
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Drosophila melanogaster / genetics*
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Drosophila melanogaster / physiology
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Genes, Insect
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Genetic Variation*
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Glycine / genetics
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Haplotypes
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Male
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Nuclear Proteins / chemistry
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Nuclear Proteins / genetics*
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Period Circadian Proteins
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Phenotype
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Polymorphism, Genetic
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Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid*
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Sequence Deletion
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Temperature
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Threonine / genetics
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Transgenes
Substances
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Dipeptides
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Drosophila Proteins
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Nuclear Proteins
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PER protein, Drosophila
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Period Circadian Proteins
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Threonine
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Glycine