Protein sequence evolution underlies interspecies incompatibility of a cell fate determinant

A specific OSK domain from Drosophila virilis is primarily responsible for cross-species incompatibility with Drosophila melanogaster Oskar, producing severe germ plasm and axial patterning defects.

• Why it matters: The study addresses how rapidly evolving gene orthologs can disrupt conserved developmental networks, and which protein region and molecular interaction changes drive interspecies incompatibility.
• What they did: Chimeric oskar constructs combining Oskar protein domains from each species were expressed in D. melanogaster, and germ plasm localization and patterning determinants were quantified, supported by in vivo and in silico analyses.
• The result: Chimeras with the D. virilis OSK domain failed to localize posterior germ plasm well enough for primordial germ cells but still specified the anteroposterior axis, and the OSK domain exerted dominant-negative effects on germ plasm mRNA localization.

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