The histone gene family in <i>Drosophila simulans</i> carries consistent species-specific nucleotide polymorphisms distinct from that of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> is a powerful model system to study histone gene regulation. However, <i>D. melanogaster</i> histone coding sequences are nearly identical, constraining use of this model in elucidating the regulation of individual members of this gene family. While we found similar constraints in <i>D. simulans,</i> we confirmed species-specific SNPs between <i>D. simulans</i> and <i>D. melanogaster</i> histone coding sequences and discovered these SNPs are consistent across <i>D. simulans</i> histone gene paralogs. We suggest that the SNPs between species-and the ability for <i>D. melanogaster</i> and <i>D.</i> <i>simulans</i> to hybridize-open new avenues to explore evolutionary conservation of histone gene regulation between similar species.