scholarly journals Manipulation of feeding regime alters sexual dimorphism for lifespan and reduces sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1854) ◽  
pp. 20170391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. L. Duxbury ◽  
Wayne G. Rostant ◽  
Tracey Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life History ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Experimental Evolution ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Feeding Regime ◽  
Focal Female ◽  
Feeding Regimes

Sexual dimorphism for lifespan (SDL) is widespread, but poorly understood. A leading hypothesis, which we test here, is that strong SDL can reduce sexual conflict by allowing each sex to maximize its sex-specific fitness. We used replicated experimental evolution lines of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster , which had been maintained for over 360 generations on either unpredictable ‘Random’ or predictable ‘Regular’ feeding regimes. This evolutionary manipulation of feeding regime led to robust, enhanced SDL in Random over control, Regular lines. Enhanced SDL was associated with a significant increase in the fitness of focal males, tested with wild-type (WT) females. This was due to sex-specific changes to male life history, manifested as increased early reproductive output and reduced survival. In contrast, focal female fitness, tested with WT males, did not differ across regimes. Hence increased SDL was associated with a reduction in sexual conflict, which increased male fitness and maintained fitness in females. Differences in SDL were not associated with developmental time or developmental survival. Overall, the results showed that the expression of enhanced SDL, resulting from experimental evolution of feeding regimes, was associated with male-specific changes in life history, leading to increased fitness and reduced sexual conflict.

scholarly journals Sexual conflict drives micro- and macroevolution of sexual dimorphism in immunity

BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Basabi Bagchi ◽  
Quentin Corbel ◽  
Imroze Khan ◽  
Ellen Payne ◽  
Devshuvam Banerji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Experimental Evolution ◽  
Parasitic Infections ◽  
Pathogen Dynamics ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Host Pathogen ◽  
Seed Beetles

Abstract Background Sexual dimorphism in immunity is believed to reflect sex differences in reproductive strategies and trade-offs between competing life history demands. Sexual selection can have major effects on mating rates and sex-specific costs of mating and may thereby influence sex differences in immunity as well as associated host–pathogen dynamics. Yet, experimental evidence linking the mating system to evolved sexual dimorphism in immunity are scarce and the direct effects of mating rate on immunity are not well established. Here, we use transcriptomic analyses, experimental evolution and phylogenetic comparative methods to study the association between the mating system and sexual dimorphism in immunity in seed beetles, where mating causes internal injuries in females. Results We demonstrate that female phenoloxidase (PO) activity, involved in wound healing and defence against parasitic infections, is elevated relative to males. This difference is accompanied by concomitant sex differences in the expression of genes in the prophenoloxidase activating cascade. We document substantial phenotypic plasticity in female PO activity in response to mating and show that experimental evolution under enforced monogamy (resulting in low remating rates and reduced sexual conflict relative to natural polygamy) rapidly decreases female (but not male) PO activity. Moreover, monogamous females had evolved increased tolerance to bacterial infection unrelated to mating, implying that female responses to costly mating may trade off with other aspects of immune defence, an hypothesis which broadly accords with the documented sex differences in gene expression. Finally, female (but not male) PO activity shows correlated evolution with the perceived harmfulness of male genitalia across 12 species of seed beetles, suggesting that sexual conflict has a significant influence on sexual dimorphisms in immunity in this group of insects. Conclusions Our study provides insights into the links between sexual conflict and sexual dimorphism in immunity and suggests that selection pressures moulded by mating interactions can lead to a sex-specific mosaic of immune responses with important implications for host–pathogen dynamics in sexually reproducing organisms.

scholarly journals Sexual Dimorphism in Metabolic Responses to Western Diet in Drosophila melanogaster

Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Sofie De Groef ◽  
Tom Wilms ◽  
Séverine Balmand ◽  
Federica Calevro ◽  
Patrick Callaerts
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Lipid Content ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Standard Diet ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Obesogenic Diet ◽  
Ovarian Size

Obesity is a chronic disease affecting millions of people worldwide. The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is an interesting research model to study metabolic and transcriptomic responses to obesogenic diets. However, the sex-specific differences in these responses are still understudied and perhaps underestimated. In this study, we exposed adult male and female Dahomey fruit flies to a standard diet supplemented with sugar, fat, or a combination of both. The exposure to a diet supplemented with 10% sugar and 10% fat efficiently induced an increase in the lipid content in flies, a hallmark for obesity. This increase in the lipid content was more prominent in males, while females displayed significant changes in the glycogen content. The strong effects of the diets on the ovarian size and number of mature oocytes were also present in females exposed to diets supplemented with fat and a combination of fat and sugar. In both males and females, the fat body morphology changed and was associated with an increase in the lipid content of fat cells in response to the diets. The expression of metabolism-related genes also displayed a strong sexually dimorphic response under normal conditions and in response to the sugar and/or fat-supplemented diets. Here, we showed that the exposure of adult fruit flies to an obesogenic diet containing both sugar and fat allowed studying sexual dimorphism in metabolism and the expression of genes regulating metabolism.

scholarly journals Microbiota Influences Fitness and Timing of Reproduction in the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda K. Matthews ◽  
Jaanna Malcolm ◽  
John M. Chaston
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life History ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Clear Definition ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Timing Of Reproduction ◽  
The Past ◽  
Definition Of

The ability of associated microorganisms (“microbiota”) to influence animal life history traits has been recognized and investigated, especially in the past 2 decades. For many microbial communities, there is not always a clear definition of whether the microbiota or its members are beneficial, pathogenic, or relatively neutral to their hosts’ fitness.

scholarly journals Sexual conflict and reproductive isolation in flies

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. Hosken ◽  
O.Y. Martin ◽  
S. Wigby ◽  
T. Chapman ◽  
D.J. Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Experimental Evolution ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Isolation Index

Sexual conflict is predicted to generate more rapid reproductive isolation between larger populations. While there is some empirical support for this, the data are inconsistent and, additionally, there has been criticism of some of the evidence. Here we reanalyse two experimental-evolution datasets using an isolation index widely applied in the speciation literature. We find evidence for reproductive isolation through sexual conflict in Sepsis cynipsea , but not in Drosophila melanogaster , and this occurred to a greater degree in larger populations, which is consistent with previous findings.

scholarly journals Assessing putative interlocus sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster using experimental evolution

2005 ◽  
Vol 272 (1576) ◽  
pp. 2029-2035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D Stewart ◽  
Edward H Morrow ◽  
William R Rice
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Experimental Evolution ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Direct Costs ◽  
Empirical Prediction ◽  
Indirect Benefits ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Sexually Antagonistic Coevolution

The theoretical foundation of sexually antagonistic coevolution is that females suffer a net fitness cost through their interactions with males. The empirical prediction is that direct costs to female lifetime fecundity will exceed indirect benefits despite a possible increase in the genetic quality of offspring. Although direct costs of males have been repeatedly shown, to date no study has comprehensively tested whether females are compensated for this direct harm through indirect benefits. Here we use experimental evolution to show that a mutation giving Drosophila melanogaster females nearly complete resistance to the direct costs of male courtship and remating, but which also excluded almost all indirect benefits, is strongly favoured by selection. We estimated the selection coefficient favouring the resistance allele to be +20%. These results demonstrate that any indirect benefits that females accrued were not sufficient to counter-balance the direct costs of males, and reinforce a large body of past studies by verifying interlocus sexual conflict in this model system.

scholarly journals Evolution of reproductive traits have no apparent life-history associated cost in populations of Drosophila melanogaster selected for cold shock resistance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karan Singh ◽  
Nagaraj Guru Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life History ◽  
Cold Shock ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Egg Viability ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Energy Trade

AbstractIn insect species like Drosophila melanogaster, the ability to evolve greater resistance or evolution of certain traits under specific environmental conditions leads to energy trade-offs with other important life-history traits. A number of studies from multiple fields have documented the life-history associated cost. However, no known studies have assessed the life-history associated cost with evolved reproductive traits and increase egg viability in cold shock selected population. To explore this, we used replicate populations of D. melanogaster that have evolved reproductive traits and egg viability in response to increased resistance to non lethal cold shock. To assess life-history cost; we measured longevity, life time fecundity, Larvae to adults development time, and larvae to adults survival. We found that there were no significant differences in longevity, life time fecundity, larvae to adults survival, and male body weight between the selected and control populations. However, selected populations have significantly longer pre adults developmental time compared to their control population. Females from the selected populations were bigger in size compared to the control populations. These findings suggest that there is no life-history cost associated with the evolution of greater resistance in the aspect of faster recovery of egg viability and reproductive traits post cold-shock. It quite possible the cost of the evolution of reproductive traits and egg viability in response to cold shock resistant is paid in terms of reduced resistance to other stresses

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