GENETIC VARIABILITY OF FLIGHT METABOLISM IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. I. CHARACTERIZATION OF POWER OUTPUT DURING TETHERED FLIGHT

ABSTRACT The mechanical power imparted to the wings during tethered flight of Drosophila melanogaster is estimated from wing-beat frequency, wing-stroke amplitude and various aspects of wing morphology by applying the steady-state aerodynamics model of insect flight developed by Weis-Fogh (1972, 1973). Wing-beat frequency, the major determinant of power output, is highly correlated with the rate of oxygen consumption. Estimates of power generated during flight should closely reflect rates of ATP production in the flight muscles, since flies do not acquire an oxygen debt or accumulate ATP during flight. In an experiment using 21 chromosome 2 substitution lines, lines were a significant source of variation for all flight parameters measured. Broadsense heritabilities ranged from 0.16 for wing-stroke amplitude to 0.44 for inertial power. The variation among lines is not explained by variation in total body size (i.e., live weight). Line differences in flight parameters are robust with respect to age, ambient temperature and duration of flight. These results indicate that characterization of the power output during tethered flight will provide a sensitive experimental system for detecting the physiological effects of variation in the structure or quantity of the enzymes involved in flight metabolism.

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The Supply of Oxygen to the Active Flight Muscles of some Large Beetles

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.45.2.285 ◽

1966 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 285-304 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

P. L. MILLER

Keyword(s):

Beat Frequency ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Volume Changes ◽

Tracheal System ◽

Air Sacs ◽

Tethered Flight ◽

Flight Muscles ◽

Wing Stroke ◽

Stroke Amplitude ◽

Comparable Size

1. Measurements of the wing-beat frequency, wing-stroke amplitude and stroke plane and of abdominal ventilation have been made during the tethered flight of twenty-six species of beetles belonging to five families, mainly in Uganda. 2. Abdominal ventilation is weak or absent in all species of Cerambycidae, Elateridae and Anthribidae examined in flight. The tracheal system in these families is characterized by the complete absence of air sacs, and in larger species by the presence of four giant trunks running through the metathorax between spiracles 2 and 3 and forming the primary supply to the flight muscles. 3. Abdominal ventilation is strong during the flight of all species over 0.6 g. in weight of the Scarabaeidae and Buprestidae which were examined. Their tracheal systems contain an abundance of air sacs while giant trunks are absent. 4. Measurements of the thoracic volume changes which accompany each wing beat show that the amount of air which can be pumped in this way increases in larger Cerambycidae per second per gram as compared with small species. Large Cerambycidae pump more per gram than Scarabaeidae of comparable size. 5. During the flight of the cerambycid Petrognatha the thoracic pump exchanges 540 µl. air/sec./g. Its action is mainly on the compressible secondary tracheae. In a wind speed of 5 m./sec. 1050µl. air/sec./g. are driven through the four giant trunks, entering through spiracle 2 and leaving from spiracle 3. The trunks are stout-walled and probably unaffected by the thoracic pump.

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Frequency of Maximal Power Output at in vivo Myofilament Lattice Spacing Matches Drosophila Wing Beat Frequency

Biophysical Journal ◽

10.1016/j.bpj.2010.12.275 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 100 (3) ◽

pp. 12a

Author(s):

Bertrand C.W. Tanner ◽

Gerrie P. Farman ◽

Thomas C. Irving ◽

David W. Maughan ◽

Mark S. Miller

Keyword(s):

Power Output ◽

Lattice Spacing ◽

Beat Frequency ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Maximal Power ◽

Maximal Power Output ◽

Wing Beat Frequency ◽

Drosophila Wing

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Frequency Analysis of Skinned Indirect Flight Muscle From a Myosin Light Chain 2 Deficient Mutant of Drosophila Melanogaster with a Reduced Wing Beat Frequency

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - Regulation of Smooth Muscle Contraction ◽

10.1007/978-1-4684-6003-2_38 ◽

1991 ◽

pp. 455-460 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mineo Yamakawa ◽

Jeffrey Warmke ◽

Scott Falkenthal ◽

David Maughan

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Frequency Analysis ◽

Light Chain ◽

Myosin Light Chain ◽

Flight Muscle ◽

Beat Frequency ◽

Deficient Mutant ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Wing Beat Frequency ◽

Myosin Light Chain 2

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The tethered flight performance of a laboratory population of Triatoma infestans (Klug) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1017/s0007485300050240 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

pp. 17-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

J. P. Ward ◽

P. S. Baker

Keyword(s):

Beat Frequency ◽

Triatoma Infestans ◽

Laboratory Population ◽

Flight Performance ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Flight Pattern ◽

Body Angle ◽

The Third ◽

Wing Beat Frequency ◽

Tethered Flight

AbstractThe flight performance of a laboratory population of Triatoma infestans (Klug) was tested on a flight balance. Bugs adopted a typical flight posture which is described. They were capable of steady flight and produced reasonable amounts of lift. Flight durations were generally short, but capacity for flight rose to a peak in the third week after adult eclosion with the longest recorded flight being one of 2 h 40 min by a male. Sexual differences were slight; males had a slightly higher mean wing-beat frequency (57·8 Hz against 55·6 Hz), and a few more females than males made longer flights. Differences were noted between short and long fliers; the latter producing significantly more lift and showing signs of a flight pattern divisible into rising, steady and falling phases. The short fliers showed only rising and falling phases. Lift and wing-beat frequency were correlated, but it is evident that lift also depends on other variables such as stroke-plane angle, body angle and wing-beat amplitude, which are discussed.

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GENETIC VARIABILITY OF FLIGHT METABOLISM IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. II. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POWER OUTPUT AND ENZYME ACTIVITY LEVELS

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/111.4.845 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 111 (4) ◽

pp. 845-868

Author(s):

C C Laurie-Ahlberg ◽

P T Barnes ◽

J W Curtsinger ◽

T H Emigh ◽

B Karlin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Power Output ◽

Mechanical Power ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Substitution Lines ◽

Wingbeat Frequency ◽

Metabolism Enzymes ◽

Mechanical Power Output ◽

Flight Metabolism ◽

Flight Muscles

ABSTRACT The major goal of the studies reported here was to determine the extent to which genetic variation in the activities of the enzymes participating in flight metabolism contributes to variation in the mechanical power output of the flight muscles in Drosophila melanogaster. Isogenic chromosome substitution lines were used to partition the variance of both types of quantitative trait into genetic and environmental components. The mechanical power output was estimated from the wingbeat frequency, wing amplitude and wing morphology of tethered flies by applying the aerodynamic models of Weis-Fogh and Ellington. There were three major results. (1) Chromosomes sampled from natural populations provide a large and repeatable genetic component to the variation in the activities of most of the 15 flight metabolism enzymes investigated and to the variation in the mechanical power output of the flight muscles. (2) The mechanical power output is a sensitive indicator of the rate of flight metabolism (i.e., rate of oxygen consumption during tethered flight). (3) In spite of (1) and (2), no convincing cases of individual enzyme effects on power output were detected, although the number and sign of the significant enzyme-power correlations suggests that such effects are not totally lacking.

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Flight duration and wing beat frequency in long- and short-lived Drosophila melanogaster

Journal of Insect Physiology ◽

10.1016/0022-1910(88)90201-6 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 34 (11) ◽

pp. 1021-1026 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

J.L. Graves ◽

L.S. Luckinbill ◽

A. Nichols

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Beat Frequency ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Flight Duration ◽

Wing Beat Frequency

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Collision-avoidance and landing responses are mediated by separate pathways in the fruit fly,Drosophila melanogaster

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.205.18.2785 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 205 (18) ◽

pp. 2785-2798 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Lance F. Tammero ◽

Michael H. Dickinson

Keyword(s):

Collision Avoidance ◽

Visual Feedback ◽

Flight Control ◽

Beat Frequency ◽

Expansion Rate ◽

Leg Extension ◽

Landing Response ◽

Avoidance Reactions ◽

Wing Stroke ◽

Stroke Amplitude

SUMMARYFlies rely heavily on visual feedback for several aspects of flight control. As a fly approaches an object, the image projected across its retina expands, providing the fly with visual feedback that can be used either to trigger a collision-avoidance maneuver or a landing response. To determine how a fly makes the decision to land on or avoid a looming object, we measured the behaviors generated in response to an expanding image during tethered flight in a visual closed-loop flight arena. During these experiments, each fly varied its wing-stroke kinematics to actively control the azimuth position of a 15°×15° square within its visual field. Periodically, the square symmetrically expanded in both the horizontal and vertical directions. We measured changes in the fly's wing-stroke amplitude and frequency in response to the expanding square while optically tracking the position of its legs to monitor stereotyped landing responses. Although this stimulus could elicit both the landing responses and collision-avoidance reactions, separate pathways appear to mediate the two behaviors. For example, if the square is in the lateral portion of the fly's field of view at the onset of expansion, the fly increases stroke amplitude in one wing while decreasing amplitude in the other, indicative of a collision-avoidance maneuver. In contrast, frontal expansion elicits an increase in wing-beat frequency and leg extension,indicative of a landing response. To further characterize the sensitivity of these responses to expansion rate, we tested a range of expansion velocities from 100 to 10 000° s-1. Differences in the latency of both the collision-avoidance reactions and the landing responses with expansion rate supported the hypothesis that the two behaviors are mediated by separate pathways. To examine the effects of visual feedback on the magnitude and time course of the two behaviors, we presented the stimulus under open-loop conditions, such that the fly's response did not alter the position of the expanding square. From our results we suggest a model that takes into account the spatial sensitivities and temporal latencies of the collision-avoidance and landing responses, and is sufficient to schematically represent how the fly uses integration of motion information in deciding whether to turn or land when confronted with an expanding object.

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The wing beat of Drosophila Melanogaster . III. Control

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1990.0042 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 327 (1238) ◽

pp. 45-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

The Body ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Input Stimulus ◽

Kinematic Data ◽

Air Stream ◽

Tethered Flight ◽

Induced Changes ◽

Thrust And Torque

Two major problems have to be solved by a flying animal or machine, (i) On the time average, flight force has to be produced which is sufficient to keep the body airborne and to propel it through the air. (ii) To stabilize a given position or trajectory, the vector of the generated flight force has to be controlled in its magnitude, orientation and position relative to the body. In the present study, the response of wing-beat kinematics to wind and visual stimuli was investigated in tethered flying Drosophila melanogaster . When the fly is subjected to an air stream in a wind tunnel, or to striped patterns moving in its frontal field of view, the overall shape of the wing path is altered, including variations of the wing-beat amplitude and the angles of attack. The aerodynamic forces were calculated from the kinematic data according to the quasisteady aerodynamic theory, to investigate whether this approach is sufficient to describe the control mechanisms of the fly. The stimulus-induced changes of kinematic and aerodynamic variables were compared with control reactions expected in free flight or measured during tethered flight under similar stimulus conditions. In general, the calculated flight forces are too small to account for the measured lift, thrust and torque responses to the particular stimuli, or would even increase the input stimulus instead of being compensatory. This result supports the notion that unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms are likely to play the major role in flapping flight. Following this line of thought, some kinematic responses can be qualitatively understood in terms of unsteady aerofoil action.

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Preparation for Flight by Hawk-Moths

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.39.4.579 ◽

1962 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 579-588

Author(s):

D. A. DORSETT

Keyword(s):

Ambient Temperature ◽

Flight Muscle ◽

Beat Frequency ◽

The Other ◽

Wing Beat ◽

Wing Loading ◽

Warming Period ◽

The Family ◽

Fine Control ◽

Wing Stroke

1. Moths belonging to the family Sphingidae are not capable of controlled flight until the temperature of the flight muscle has been raised by a preliminary period of vibrating the wings. 2. The flight-temperature of forty-five specimens of Deilephila nerii varied between 34 and 45° C., but individuals always flew at the same temperature. 3. The temperature inside the thorax rose at a mean rate of 4.2° C./min. 4. Alteration of the ambient temperature affects the duration of the warming period but not the flight-temperature. 5. The flight-temperature shows a positive correlation with the wing loading. In Deilephila and two other genera of similar dimensions, an increase of 50 mg. in the wing loading corresponds to a rise of 5.75° C. in the flight-temperature. 6. A method of measuring the rise in wing-beat frequency during the warming period is described. The thoracic temperature increases linearly with the frequency. 7. It is concluded that the frequency of the wing beat is determined principally by the wing loading, whilst variations in the other parameters of the wing stroke provide the ‘fine control’ of flight regulation required during flight and whilst hovering.

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