TY - UNPB
T1 - A Newborn F-box Gene Blocks Gene Flow by Selectively Degrading Phosphoglucomutase in Species Hybrids
AU - Xie, Dongying
AU - Ma, Yiming
AU - Ye, Pohao
AU - Liu, Yiqing
AU - Ding, Qiutao
AU - Huang, Gefei
AU - Felix, Marie-Anne
AU - Cai, Zongwei
AU - Zhao, Zhongying
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
PY - 2024/9/13
Y1 - 2024/9/13
N2 - The establishment of reproductive barriers such as postzygotic hybrid incompatibility (HI) remains the key to speciation. Gene duplication followed by differential functionalization has long been proposed as a major model underlying HI, but few supporting evidence exists. Here, we demonstrate that a new-born F-box gene, Cni-neib-1, of the nematode Caenorhabditis nigoni specifically inactivates an essential phosphoglucomutase encoded by Cbr-shls-1 in its sister species C. briggsae and their hybrids. Zygotic expression of Cni-neib-1 specifically depletes Cbr-SHLS-1, but not Cni-SHLS-1, in approximately 40 minutes starting from gastrulation, causing embryonic death. Cni-neib-1 is one of thirty-three paralogues emerging from a recent surge in F-box gene duplication events within C. nigoni, all of which are evolving under positive selection. Cni-neib-1 undergoes turnover even among C. nigoni populations. Differential expansion of F-box genes between the two species could reflect their distinctive innate immune responses. Collectively, we demonstrate how recent duplication of genes involved in protein degradation can cause unintended destruction of targets in hybrids that leads to HI, providing an invaluable insight into mechanisms of speciation.
AB - The establishment of reproductive barriers such as postzygotic hybrid incompatibility (HI) remains the key to speciation. Gene duplication followed by differential functionalization has long been proposed as a major model underlying HI, but few supporting evidence exists. Here, we demonstrate that a new-born F-box gene, Cni-neib-1, of the nematode Caenorhabditis nigoni specifically inactivates an essential phosphoglucomutase encoded by Cbr-shls-1 in its sister species C. briggsae and their hybrids. Zygotic expression of Cni-neib-1 specifically depletes Cbr-SHLS-1, but not Cni-SHLS-1, in approximately 40 minutes starting from gastrulation, causing embryonic death. Cni-neib-1 is one of thirty-three paralogues emerging from a recent surge in F-box gene duplication events within C. nigoni, all of which are evolving under positive selection. Cni-neib-1 undergoes turnover even among C. nigoni populations. Differential expansion of F-box genes between the two species could reflect their distinctive innate immune responses. Collectively, we demonstrate how recent duplication of genes involved in protein degradation can cause unintended destruction of targets in hybrids that leads to HI, providing an invaluable insight into mechanisms of speciation.
KW - Gene duplication
KW - Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibility
KW - F-box gene
KW - Caenorhabditis nematodes
KW - Species hybrid
U2 - 10.1101/2024.09.11.612556
DO - 10.1101/2024.09.11.612556
M3 - Preprint
SP - 1
EP - 68
BT - A Newborn F-box Gene Blocks Gene Flow by Selectively Degrading Phosphoglucomutase in Species Hybrids
PB - bioRxiv
ER -