Adaptive Evolution of Pelvic Reduction in Sticklebacks by Recurrent Deletion of a Pitx1 Enhancer

作者：Chan Yingguang Frank; Marks Melissa E; Jones Felicity C; Villarreal Guadalupe Jr; Shapiro Michael D; Brady Shannon D; Southwick Audrey M; Absher Devin M; Grimwood Jane; Schmutz Jeremy; Myers Richard M; Petrov Dmitri; Jonsson Bjarni; Schluter Dolph; Bell Michael A; Kingsley David M^*

来源：Science, 2010, 327(5963): 302-305.

DOI：10.1126/science.1182213

The molecular mechanisms underlying major phenotypic changes that have evolved repeatedly in nature are generally unknown. Pelvic loss in different natural populations of threespine stickleback fish has occurred through regulatory mutations deleting a tissue-specific enhancer of the Pituitary homeobox transcription factor 1 (Pitx1) gene. The high prevalence of deletion mutations at Pitx1 may be influenced by inherent structural features of the locus. Although Pitx1 null mutations are lethal in laboratory animals, Pitx1 regulatory mutations show molecular signatures of positive selection in pelvic-reduced populations. These studies illustrate how major expression and morphological changes can arise from single mutational leaps in natural populations, producing new adaptive alleles via recurrent regulatory alterations in a key developmental control gene.

• 出版日期2010-1-15