Muller Element Arm Synteny Table

In anticipation of the publication of the results of the community and individual comparative analyses of the genomes of 12 species of genus Drosophila, FlyBase is providing this table that will allow our users to easily view the syntenic relationships among the arms of the 12 sequenced genomes. We have incorporated into the table a view of the phylogenetic relationships of the species, their standard chromosomal numbering and the corresponding Muller element. It should be noted that there is not a simple one to one correspondence for all of the species chromosome arms and a single Muller element. This lack of correspondence is associated with three identified fusion and/or inversion events that reassociate all or portions of arms/elements in five of the species relative to D. melanogaster.

*In D. erecta and D. yakuba there is a shared pericentric inversion at the base of the B.C element (2L.2R in D. melanogaster). Thus relative to D. melanogaster the B and C elements are now mixed from telomere to centromere. The new order is B/C and C/B.

**In D. pseudoobscura, and D. persimilis the A and D elements are fused to form a metacentric X or first (1) chromosome from the X and autosomal 3L arms of D. melanogaster. In addition to this fusion there is a small pericentric inversion or transposition of material from the base of the A element to the base of the D element. It is unclear whether there is a reciprocal movement of D material into the base of A.

***In D. willistoni there is a fusion of the F element into the distal end of the E element. Thus there is no dot chromosome in this species and the new order is F/E. Note that D. willistoni has a similar if not identical A/D fusion as that seen in D. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis. However it does not show the A => D inversion/transposition.