Adaptive evolution of vertebrate-type cryptochrome in the ancestors of Hymenoptera

Biol Lett. 2013 Feb 23;9(1):20120958. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0958. Print 2013 Feb 23.

Abstract

One of the most mysterious aspects of insect clock mechanisms is that some insects, including Hymenoptera and Tribolium, only express a vertebrate-type cryptochrome (cry2). It is unknown whether or not cry2 underwent adaptive evolution in these insects. In the present study, we cloned and sequenced the full-length cry2 from a fig pollinator species, Ceratosolen solmsi (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae), and examined the molecular evolution and daily expression of this gene. Our results suggest that cry2 underwent positive selection in the branch leading to hymenopteran insects. The function of CRY2 might have been fixed since undergoing natural selection in the ancestor of Hymenoptera. Male pollinators showed stronger rhythmicity in the host figs, which reflect an adaptation to their life cycles.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • China
  • Circadian Rhythm
  • Cryptochromes / genetics*
  • Cryptochromes / metabolism*
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Female
  • Ficus
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Hymenoptera / genetics*
  • Hymenoptera / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Pollination
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • Cryptochromes

Associated data

  • GENBANK/JX409893