An intron loss of Dfak gene in species of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup and phylogenetic analysis

Drosophila focal adhesion kinase (Dfak) gene is a single-copy nuclear gene. Previous study revealed that Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans had lost an intron precisely within the tyrosine kinase (TyK) domain of this gene. However, this did not happen in several other Drosophila species, including Drosophila elegans, Drosophila ficusphila, Drosophila biarmipes, Drosophila jambulina, Drosophila prostipennis, Drosophila takahashii, and Drosophila pseudoobscura. In the current study, homologous sequences of Drosophila sechellia, Drosophila mauritiana, Drosophila yakuba, Drosophila teissieri, Drosophila santomea, and Drosophila erecta were amplified by polymerase chain reaction, and further sequencing analysis indicated that these species were missing a TyK domain intron, indicating they were closely related. The relationship of the D. melanogaster species group was reconstructed using TyK domain nucleotide sequences. The resulting phylogenetic tree revealed that these 8 species were the most related species in the melanogaster group. These results strongly support previously proposed classifications based on morphological and molecular data.