Proposal for Sequencing of the Drosophila yakuba and D. simulans Genomes

Overview Comparative genome sequencing has the greatest impact on biology when the targeted genomes impinge directly on analysis or interpretation of the human genome or the genome of a genetic model system. Comparative genomics may also shed light on the genetic and evolutionary mechanisms that determine genome organization and composition. The most obvious benefit of comparative genomics has been the discovery of conserved putative functional elements present in each of two distantly related genomes. However, comparisons between distantly related genomes are biased towards identifying only those functional elements that evolve very slowly. Alternatively, comparisons between more recently diverged genomes provide a clearer view of the mechanisms causing genome evolution. Here we propose that genome sequences of Drosophila yakuba and D. simulans, two species in the melanogaster subgroup of Drosophila, would significantly enhance, i) the melanogaster annotation, ii) our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the organization and composition of the melanogaster genome, and iii) our understanding of the evolutionary processes controlling divergence of the melanogaster genome from that of other Drosophila, iv) investigation of the genetic and developmental basis of species differences. The simulans and yakuba genomes would also lay the groundwork for whole genome approaches to the study of molecular and phenotypic population variation within the melanogaster model system. Advances in the analysis and interpretation of melanogaster population variation made possible by the yakuba and simulans genome sequences would have direct impacts on the study of human variation.