The Dca gene involved in cold adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster arose by duplication of the ancestral regucalcin gene.

The Drosophila cold acclimation gene (Dca) is involved in the adaptive response to low temperatures. This gene is upregulated at the transcriptional level when D. melanogaster flies are exposed 1 day to 15 °C. Dca (or smp-30) is a member of the SMP-30/Gluconolactonase/LRE-like family. In the current study, we characterized the members of this gene family in the 12 Drosophila species with available complete genomes sequences. Two paralogous genes, Dca and regucalcin, were identified in all the Sophophora subgenus species (9 of the 12 species), and their presence was further confirmed in three other species of the subgenus (D. subobscura, D. madeirensis, and D. guanche). However, only regucalcin was present in the species of the Drosophila subgenus (D. grimshawi, D. virilis, and D. mojavensis). The phylogenetic analysis and the molecular organization of Dca that is a nested intronic gene support that Dca arose by a duplication event from the ancestral regucalcin gene after the split of the Sophophora and Drosophila subgenera but before the Sophophora radiation. After the duplication event, the nonsynonymous fixation rate increased in the branch leading to Dca (but not to regucalcin), suggesting the neofunctionalization of the former duplicate. Thus, regucalcin would have maintained the ancestral gene function, and Dca would have acquired a new function likely related to Ca²⁺ homeostasis and cold acclimation. Molecular evolution of Dca has been affected by its implication in the adaptive response to cold temperatures. Indeed, the gene has evolved under stronger purifying selection in the temperate than in the tropical Sophophora species, as reflected by the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions. This result is consistent with functional constraints acting on the DCA protein to keep species adaptation to temperate climates. Dca and regucalcin also differ in their expression patterns. The expression profile of regucalcin is similar to that of the anterior fat body protein gene (AFP) of Sarcophaga peregrina and Calliphora vicina, which is also a member of the SMP-30/Gluconolactonase/LRE-like gene family. Sequence similarity and expression profile suggest that AFP and regucalcin are indeed orthologous genes.