scholarly journals Maternal effects influence temperature-dependent offspring survival in Drosophila melanogaster

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snigdha Mohan ◽  
Ton G.G. Groothuis ◽  
Chris Vinke ◽  
Jean-Christophe Billeter

AbstractMothers may modulate the phenotype of their offspring by affecting their development based on her own environment. In changing environments, these maternal effects are thought to adjust offspring physiology and development and thus produce offspring better prepared to the environment experienced by the mother. However, evidence for this is scarce. Here we test the consequences of a match or mismatch between mother and offspring temperature conditions on growth, adult morphology and reproduction into the grandchildren generation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. This experimental design tests the relative contribution of maternal effects and offspring intrinsic plasticity to the phenotypic response to temperature conditions. We manipulated maternal temperature conditions by exposing mothers to either 18°C or 29°C conditions. Their eggs developed at a temperature that was either matched or mismatched with the maternal one. Survival from egg to adult was higher when the maternal and offspring environments matched, showing maternal effects affecting a trait that is a close proxy for fitness. However developmental speed, adult size and fecundity responded to temperature mostly through offspring phenotypic plasticity and maternal effects only had a small contribution. The results provide experimental evidence for maternal effects in influencing a potentially adaptive offspring response to temperature in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. These effects appear to modulate early embryonic phenotypes such as survival, more than the adult phenotypes of the offspring.

Genetics ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-424
Author(s):  
Fred B Schnee ◽  
James N Thompson

ABSTRACT The chromosomal architecture of genotype × environment interactions was investigated in lines of Drosophila melanogaster selected for increased or decreased sternopleural bristle number at 18°, 25° and 29°. In general, interactions were found to have a stabilizing effect upon the bristle phenotype, in the sense that the genotype × environment interaction tended to increase bristle number under conditions in which temperature alone reduced bristle number and vice versa. The polygenic modifiers of mean bristle number were often separable from modifiers of the response to temperature both at the chromosomal level and intrachromosomally. In one of the low selection lines, a temperature-dependent polygenic locus was mapped on chromosome 3. It is suggested that genotype × environment interactions be thought of in terms of conditional polygenic expression. Such conditionality may be one of the ways in which polygenic variation is maintained in a population in the face of selection for an optimum phenotype.


2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 1609-1620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery P Demuth

Temperature-dependent sex determination is one of the best documented yet evolutionarily enigmatic sex-determining systems. The classical theoretical framework suggests that temperature-dependent sex determination will be adaptive when males and females benefit differentially from development at certain temperatures. Empirical evidence has not provided convincing support for this "differential-fitness" hypothesis. Furthermore, since most experiments utilize constant temperature incubation treatments to explore phenotypic response to temperature, few studies have addressed the consequences of incubation under natural conditions. In this study I utilized constant-temperature laboratory incubations and natural-nest incubations to determine the effects of temperature on sex, size, growth, and locomotor performance in the tortoise Gopherus polyphemus. Constant-temperature incubations do induce substantial growth and performance variation in these tortoises. However, the data do not clearly support the differential-fitness hypothesis because (i) growth variation does not result in adult size dimorphism, (ii) performance differences are confined to a very short period after hatching, and (iii) natural incubation temperatures do not vary sufficiently to produce significant phenotypic variation in traits other than sex.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (D1) ◽  
pp. D899-D907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife Larkin ◽  
Steven J Marygold ◽  
Giulia Antonazzo ◽  
Helen Attrill ◽  
Gilberto dos Santos ◽  
...  

Abstract FlyBase (flybase.org) is an essential online database for researchers using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism, facilitating access to a diverse array of information that includes genetic, molecular, genomic and reagent resources. Here, we describe the introduction of several new features at FlyBase, including Pathway Reports, paralog information, disease models based on orthology, customizable tables within reports and overview displays (‘ribbons’) of expression and disease data. We also describe a variety of recent important updates, including incorporation of a developmental proteome, upgrades to the GAL4 search tab, additional Experimental Tool Reports, migration to JBrowse for genome browsing and improvements to batch queries/downloads and the Fast-Track Your Paper tool.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Ana Filošević Vujnović ◽  
Katarina Jović ◽  
Emanuel Pištan ◽  
Rozi Andretić Waldowski

Non-enzymatic glycation and covalent modification of proteins leads to Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs). AGEs are biomarkers of aging and neurodegenerative disease, and can be induced by impaired neuronal signaling. The objective of this study was to investigate if manipulation of dopamine (DA) in vitro using the model protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and in vivo using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, influences fluorescent AGEs (fAGEs) formation as an indicator of dopamine-induced oxidation events. DA inhibited fAGEs-BSA synthesis in vitro, suggesting an anti-oxidative effect, which was not observed when flies were fed DA. Feeding flies cocaine and methamphetamine led to increased fAGEs formation. Mutants lacking the dopaminergic transporter or the D1-type showed further elevation of fAGEs accumulation, indicating that the long-term perturbation in DA function leads to higher production of fAGEs. To confirm that DA has oxidative properties in vivo, we fed flies antioxidant quercetin (QUE) together with methamphetamine. QUE significantly decreased methamphetamine-induced fAGEs formation suggesting that the perturbation of DA function in vivo leads to increased oxidation. These findings present arguments for the use of fAGEs as a biomarker of DA-associated neurodegenerative changes and for assessment of antioxidant interventions such as QUE treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochan Xu ◽  
Wei Yang ◽  
Binghui Tian ◽  
Xiuwen Sui ◽  
Weilai Chi ◽  
...  

AbstractThe fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been used as a model organism for the molecular and genetic dissection of sleeping behaviors. However, most previous studies were based on qualitative or semi-quantitative characterizations. Here we quantified sleep in flies. We set up an assay to continuously track the activity of flies using infrared camera, which monitored the movement of tens of flies simultaneously with high spatial and temporal resolution. We obtained accurate statistics regarding the rest and sleep patterns of single flies. Analysis of our data has revealed a general pattern of rest and sleep: the rest statistics obeyed a power law distribution and the sleep statistics obeyed an exponential distribution. Thus, a resting fly would start to move again with a probability that decreased with the time it has rested, whereas a sleeping fly would wake up with a probability independent of how long it had slept. Resting transits to sleeping at time scales of minutes. Our method allows quantitative investigations of resting and sleeping behaviors and our results provide insights for mechanisms of falling into and waking up from sleep.


2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (16) ◽  
pp. 5638-5645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoon-Suk Kang ◽  
Brian Bothner ◽  
Christopher Rensing ◽  
Timothy R. McDermott

ABSTRACTIn this study with the model organismAgrobacterium tumefaciens, we used a combination oflacZgene fusions, reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), and deletion and insertional inactivation mutations to show unambiguously that the alternative sigma factor RpoN participates in the regulation of AsIIIoxidation. A deletion mutation that removed the RpoN binding site from theaioBApromoter and anaacC3(gentamicin resistance) cassette insertional inactivation of therpoNcoding region eliminatedaioBAexpression and AsIIIoxidation, althoughrpoNexpression was not related to cell exposure to AsIII. Putative RpoN binding sites were identified throughout the genome and, as examples, included promoters foraioB,phoB1,pstS1,dctA,glnA,glnB, andflgBthat were examined by using qualitative RT-PCR andlacZreporter fusions to assess the relative contribution of RpoN to their transcription. The expressions ofaioBanddctAin the wild-type strain were considerably enhanced in cells exposed to AsIII, and both genes were silent in therpoN::aacC3mutant regardless of AsIII. The expression level ofglnAwas not influenced by AsIIIbut was reduced (but not silent) in therpoN::aacC3mutant and further reduced in the mutant under N starvation conditions. TherpoN::aacC3mutation had no obvious effect on the expression ofglnB,pstS1,phoB1, orflgB. These experiments provide definitive evidence to document the requirement of RpoN for AsIIIoxidation but also illustrate that the presence of a consensus RpoN binding site does not necessarily link the associated gene with regulation by AsIIIor by this sigma factor.


2009 ◽  
Vol 277 (1683) ◽  
pp. 963-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie E. Marshall ◽  
Brent J. Sinclair

While insect cold tolerance has been well studied, the vast majority of work has focused on the effects of a single cold exposure. However, many abiotic environmental stresses, including temperature, fluctuate within an organism's lifespan. Given that organisms may trade-off survival at the cost of future reproduction, we investigated the effects of multiple cold exposures on survival and fertility in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster . We found that multiple cold exposures significantly decreased mortality compared with the same length of exposure in a single sustained bout, but significantly decreased fecundity (as measured by r , the intrinsic rate of increase) as well, owing to a shift in sex ratio. This change was reflected in a long-term decrease in glycogen stores in multiply exposed flies, while a brief effect on triglyceride stores was observed, suggesting flies are reallocating energy stores. Given that many environments are not static, this trade-off indicates that investigating the effects of repeated stress exposure is important for understanding and predicting physiological responses in the wild.


Parasitology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. TINSLEY ◽  
S. BLANFORD ◽  
F. M. JIGGINS

Genetic variation in susceptibility to pathogens is a central concern both to evolutionary and medical biologists, and for the implementation of biological control programmes. We have investigated the extent of such variation in Drosophila melanogaster, a major model organism for immunological research. We found that within populations, different Drosophila genotypes show wide-ranging variation in their ability to survive infection with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. Furthermore, striking divergence in susceptibility has occurred between genotypes from temperate and tropical African locations. We hypothesize that this may have been driven by adaptation to local differences in pathogen exposure or host ecology. Genetic variation within populations may be maintained by temporal or spatial variation in the costs and benefits of pathogen defence. Insect pathogens are employed widely as biological control agents and entomopathogenic fungi are currently being developed for reducing malaria transmission by mosquitoes. Our data highlight the need for concern about resistance evolution to these novel biopesticides in vector populations.


1998 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD M. BADGE ◽  
JOHN F. Y. BROOKFIELD

We have discovered, in an inbred line (Loua) of Drosophila melanogaster from Zaïre, a third chromosome showing unusual P element repression. Repression of P element transposition by this chromosome, named Loua3, is dominant zygotic and has three unusual properties. Firstly, its repression of the gonadal dysgenesis caused by a strong P haplotype is strongly temperature-dependent, being most evident at higher rearing temperatures. Secondly, subdivision of Loua3 by recombination abolishes repression: the effect is apparently a function of the intact chromosome. Finally, Loua3 also diminishes somatic lethality when chromosomes carrying many ‘ammunition’ elements (Birmingham2) are exposed to the constitutive transposase source Δ2-3(99B). The chromosome has 17 P elements, none full-length, located in at least 12 dispersed positions.


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