近日，昆明动物研究所遗传资源与进化国家重点实验室马普进化基因组学青年科学家研究组博士研究生占祖兵在最新一期Molecular Biology and Evolution杂志上发表论文"Rapid functional divergence of a newly evolved polyubiquitin gene in Drosophila and its role in the trade-off between male fecundity and lifespan"称，他们发现一个年轻新基因在雄性繁殖力和寿命长短平衡中有重要作用。
繁殖成本在物种进化的各种生命过程中都是一个重要的权衡因素，然而其分子机制仍很大程度上未知。占祖兵在导师王文研究员指导下，研究了一个X染色体连锁的泛素基因家族新近起源的一对重复基因CG32744和CG11700。该重复事件大约发生在Drosophila melanogaster与D. simulans支发生分歧之后（约5.8百万年前）。
研究发现CG32744的蛋白序列在果蝇属各个种都保守，并且呈泛表达模式，而CG11700则积累了很多氨基酸改变，并呈现雄性特异表达模式。进一步的功能试验表明，CG11700的缺失突变体的雄性繁殖力比野生型强，能比野生型繁殖出更多后代，但有趣的是其寿命缩短。G32744基因则无这个现象。该研究结果提示CG11700可能经历了新功能化历程，在雄性生殖力与寿命长短的平衡过程中进化出重要功能，而CG32744则可能很大程度上保留祖先功能。
该研究成果得到了国家自然科学基金重点项目（No. 30930056）的支持。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1093/molbev/msr299
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Rapid functional divergence of a newly evolved polyubiquitin gene in Drosophila and its role in the trade-off between male fecundity and lifespan
Zubing Zhan*, Yun Ding*, Ruopin Zhao*, Yue Zhang*, Haijing Yu*,§, Qi Zhou*,1, Shuang Yang*, Hui Xiang*,2 and Wen Wang*,2
The cost of reproduction is a pivotal trade-off with various biological processes during the evolution of organisms. However, the genes and molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution of balancing reproductive capacity and its cost are still largely unknown. Here, we present a comprehensive study on the evolution, expression and biological functions of a newly evolved pair of X-linked polyubiquitin tandemly duplicated genes, CG32744 and CG11700, of which the duplication event occurred in Drosophila melanogaster lineage after the split from D. simulans clade. We found that CG32744 retains conserved polyubiquitin-coding sequences across Drosophila species and is ubiquitously expressed, while CG11700 has accumulated numerous amino acid changes and shows a male-specific expression pattern. Null mutants of CG11700 have a higher male fecundity but shorter lifespan while its overexpression decreases male fecundity. In contrast, the null mutants of the peptide-conserved CG32744 do not exhibit such phenotypes. These results suggest that CG11700 might have experienced neofunctionalization and evolved important functions in the trade-off between male fecundity and lifespan, and that CG32744 likely has retained the ancestral function.
