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. 2007 Sep 18;104(39):15412–15417. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0707445104

Table 3.

MK test for positive selection on MSL complex genes

MSL complex protein-encoding gene Observed Sp Observed Rp Observed Sf Observed Rf G value P value
msl1
    Pooled 54 41 56 78 5.025 0.025
    D. melanogaster 18 10 24 53 9.097 0.0026
    D. simulans 36 32 23 22 0.036 0.85
msl2*
    Pooled 83 40 51 63 12.47 0.00041
    D. melanogaster 36 22 24 41 7.743 0.0054
    D. simulans 47 18 22 18 3.201 0.074
msl3
    Pooled 49 10 22 19 9.913 0.00164
    D. melanogaster 24 3 11 15 13.23 0.00028
    D. simulans 24 6 7 3 0.379 0.54
mof
    Pooled 84 19 48 37 13.97 0.00019
    D. melanogaster 30 7 25 23 7.86 0.0051
    D. simulans 55 12 19 13 5.531 0.012
mle
    Pooled 50 35 75 48 0.096 0.76
    D. melanogaster 14 16 37 24 1.562 0.21
    D. simulans 36 19 29 21 0.608 0.44

We compared the ratio of replacement and synonymous changes that were polymorphic within the species (Rp:Sp) with the ratio of replacement and synonymous changes that were found fixed between the species (Rf:Sf). If no alteration in selective regimes occurred during evolution, we expect these ratios to be statistically indistinguishable. However, an excess of fixed replacement changes is a clear indication of positive selection. Pooled changes refer to all the polymorphism and fixed changes using both lineages. However, by using an outgroup species (D. yakuba), we can also make the same comparison, specific either to the D. melanogaster or D. simulans lineage.

*A region of 75 nucleotides was excluded from all msl2 analysis because of ambiguity in the alignment between D. simulans and D. melanogaster(the region corresponds to nucleotides 904–978 relative to D. melanogaster).