PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF ANTERIOR-POSTERIOR PATTERNING PROTEINS IN DIFFERENT SPECIES OF Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Drosophila melanogaster has always been the favourite organism for studying insect biology. Most of our understanding regarding insect development comes from this organism. Previous studies have revealed the role of many different proteins in the axes formation of the Drosophila embryo. The role of Hunchback, Kruppel, Giant, Knirps, Caudal, Hairy, Even-skipped, Odd Skipped, Fushi-tarazu, Wingless, and Engrailed and other proteins have already been established in the development of D. melanogaster. While most of the research work has been carried out on D. melanogaster, the other species belonging to the genus Drosophila have gotten a little attention. It would be interesting to understand how the proteins involved in insect development evolved in different species of this genus. Therefore, the present study was carried out to analyse phylogenetic relationships and sequence variation among seven different Drosophila species using sequences of thirteen different proteins involved in anterior-posterior patterning in the Drosophila embryo. The MEGA XI software was used for the phylogenetic analysis which revealed that Drosophila melanogaster was the most recently diverged species as far as the A-P patterning proteins are concerned. Maximum variable sites were observed in Hunchback and the minimum in Wingless.