Abstract
The recent revolution in high throughput sequencing and associated applications provides excellent opportunities to catalog variation in DNA sequences and gene expression between species. However, understanding the astonishing diversity of the Tree of Life requires understanding the phenotypic consequences of such variation and identification of those rare genetic changes that are causal to diversity. One way to study the genetic basis for trait diversity is to apply a transgenic approach and introduce genes of interest from a donor into a recipient species. Such interspecies gene transfer (IGT) is based on the premise that if a gene is causal to the morphological divergence of the two species, the transfer will endow the recipient with properties of the donor. Extensions of this approach further allow identifying novel loci for the diversification of form and investigating cis- and trans-contributions to morphological evolution. Here we review recent examples from both plant and animal systems that have employed IGT to provide insight into the genetic basis of evolutionary change. We outline the practice of IGT, its methodological strengths and weaknesses, and consider guidelines for its application, emphasizing the importance of phylogenetic distance, character polarity, and life history. We also discuss future perspectives for exploiting IGT in the context of expanding genomic resources in emerging experimental systems and advances in genome editing.
Highlights
Identifying the loci underlying trait divergence is based on crosses between two populations or species with contrasting morphologies and examining the phenotypic distribution of traits in the progeny
The precise proportion of gene activity that accounts for morphological divergence of reproductively isolated species, is difficult to conceptualize
A weakness of the approach is the underlying assumption that a certain aspect of the trait can be reducible to a single gene
Summary
IGT is a functional test for sufficiency to study the underlying genetic basis of trait divergence and can be used between species that do not hybridize. When two species diverged morphologically but the protein function did not change during evolution, expression difference underlying the divergence is suspected In this case, coding sequences from both species under the same promoter may be able to elicit phenotypic change in the recipient but if a cis-regulatory change is causal, only the entire locus from the donor will be potent. The reporter displayed expression pattern similar but not identical to the one observed in the donor D. biarmipes, which suggests that divergence at the yellow regulatory region contributed to the novel wing pigmentation pattern It revealed additional trans-factors that confer the precise spatio-temporal expression of the spot (Gompel et al, 2005). Introducing a partial yellow locus of D. biarmipes was not sufficient to generate a spot in D. melanogaster, indicating that additional loci are involved
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