Comparative analysis of multiple genomes in a phylogenetic framework dramatically improves the precision and sensitivity of evolutionary inference, producing more robust results than single-genome analyses can provide. The genomes of 12 Drosophila species, ten of which are presented here for the first time (sechellia, simulans, yakuba, erecta, ananassae, persimilis, willistoni, mojavensis, virilis and grimshawi), illustrate how rates and patterns of sequence divergence across taxa can illuminate evolutionary processes on a genomic scale. These genome sequences augment the formidable genetic tools that have made Drosophila melanogaster a pre-eminent model for animal genetics, and will further catalyse fundamental research on mechanisms of development, cell biology, genetics, disease, neurobiology, behaviour, physiology and evolution. Despite remarkable similarities among these Drosophila species, we identified many putatively non-neutral changes in protein-coding genes, non-coding RNA genes, and cis-regulatory regions. These may prove to underlie differences in the ecology and behaviour of these diverse species.

The sequencing of the 12 genomes of members of the genus Drosophila was taken as an opportunity to reevaluate the genetic and physical maps for 11 of the species, in part to aid in the mapping of assembled scaffolds. Here, we present an overview of the importance of cytogenetic maps to Drosophila biology and to the concepts of chromosomal evolution. Physical and genetic markers were used to anchor the genome assembly scaffolds to the polytene chromosomal maps for each species. In addition, a computational approach was used to anchor smaller scaffolds on the basis of the analysis of syntenic blocks. We present the chromosomal map data from each of the 11 sequenced non-Drosophila melanogaster species as a series of sections. Each section reviews the history of the polytene chromosome maps for each species, presents the new polytene chromosome maps, and anchors the genomic scaffolds to the cytological maps using genetic and physical markers. The mapping data agree with Muller's idea that the majority of Drosophila genes are syntenic. Despite the conservation of genes within homologous chromosome arms across species, the karyotypes of these species have changed through the fusion of chromosomal arms followed by subsequent rearrangement events. O NE of the primary strengths of the genus Drosophila as a model system has been the relative ease of generating detailed cytogenetic maps. Indeed, the first definitive mapping of genes to chromosomes Genetics 179: 1601-1655 ( July 2008) was performed in Drosophila melanogaster (Bridges 1916). The subsequent discovery of polytene chromosomes in the salivary glands in this same species (Painter 1934) and their codification into fine-structure genetic/ cytogenetic maps represents perhaps one of the first forays into ''genomics.'' Polytene maps (Bridges 1935;Lefevre 1976) provided an important genetic tool for mapping genes, for detecting genetic diversity within populations, and for inferring phylogenies among related species (Dobzhansky and Sturtevant 1938;Judd et al. 1972;Ashburner and Lemeunier 1976;Lemeunier and Ashburner 1976). Sturtevant and Tan (1937) laid the groundwork for comparative genomics when they established that genes within the chromosomal arms are conserved or syntenic among species. In an insightful melding of the gene mapping and evolutionary studies, H. J. Muller (1940) proposed that the genomes of Drosophila species were subdivided into a set of homologous elements represented by chromosome arms. What Muller (1940) noted, which was subsequently elaborated on by Sturtevant and Novitski (1941), was that the presumed homologs of identified mutant alleles within a chromosome arm of D. melanogaster were also confined to a single arm in other species within the genus where mapping data were available. Using D. melanogaster as a reference, Muller proposed that each of the five major chromosome arms plus the dot chromosome be given a letter designation (A-F) and that this nomenclature be used to identify equivalent linkage groups within the genus.The an...

We have prepared reference polytene photographic maps as a standard sequence for the Drosophila bipectinata complex using structurally homozygous flies derived from a stock of Drosophila parabipectinata from Brunei, Borneo, in 1971. We found 87 inversions in the D. bipectinata complex and described their breakpoints on the reference maps. Only 2 arrangements were shared interspecifically: 2R-AB was shared with 3 species, D. parabipectinata, D. bipectinata, and Drosophila malerkotliana, and 3L-A was found in 2 species, D. parabipectinata and D. malerkotliana. The 2 subspecies of D. malerkotliana and the 2 subspecies of Drosophila pseudoananassae shared half of the total gene arrangements detected in each species. The number of different inversions found between species in the complex ranges from 7 (between D. parabipectinata and D. malerkotliana) to at least 24 (between D. bipectinata and D. pseudoananassae). On the basis of the characteristic differences of their gene arrangements, we propose a reliable chromosomal phylogeny of the D. bipectinata complex.

Strong sexual isolation exists between the closely related species Drosophila ananassae and D. pallidosa, but there is no obvious post-mating isolation; both sexes of the hybrids and their descendants appear to be completely viable and fertile. Strains exhibiting parthenogenesis have been derived from wild populations of both species. We intercrossed such strains and established iso-female lines after the second generation of parthenogenesis. These lines are clones, carrying homozygous chromosomes that are interspecific recombinants. We established 266 such isogenic lines and determined their genetic constitution by using chromosomal and molecular markers. Strong pseudo-linkage was seen between loci on the left arm of chromosome 2 and on the right arm of chromosome 3; the frequency of inheriting the two chromosome regions from the same species was significantly larger than expected. One possible cause of pseudo-linkage is female meiotic bias, so that chromosomes of the same species origin tend to be distributed to the same gamete. But this possibility is ruled out; backcross analysis indicated that the two chromosome regions segregated independently in female hybrids. The remaining possibility is elimination of low-fitness flies carrying the two chromosome regions from different species. Thus, genetic incompatibility was detected in the species pair for which no hybrid breakdown had previously been indicated. The 'interspecific mosaic genome' lines reported here will be useful for future research to identify genes involved in speciation and phenotypic evolution.

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