scholarly journals Pleiotropic effects of ebony and tan on pigmentation and cuticular hydrocarbon composition in Drosophila melanogaster

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Massey ◽  
N. Akiyama ◽  
T. Bien ◽  
K. Dreisewerd ◽  
P. J. Wittkopp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Hydrocarbon Composition ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Pleiotropic Effects ◽  
Dopamine Synthesis ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Melanin Biosynthesis ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

AbstractPleiotropic genes are genes that affect more than one trait. For example, many genes required for pigmentation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster also affect traits such as circadian rhythms, vision, and mating behavior. Here, we present evidence that two pigmentation genes, ebony and tan, which encode enzymes catalyzing reciprocal reactions in the melanin biosynthesis pathway, also affect cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) composition in D. melanogaster females. More specifically, we report that ebony loss-of-function mutants have a CHC profile that is biased toward long (>25C) chain CHCs, whereas tan loss-of-function mutants have a CHC profile that is biased toward short (<25C) chain CHCs. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of dopamine synthesis, a key step in the melanin synthesis pathway, reversed the changes in CHC composition seen in ebony mutants, making the CHC profiles similar to those seen in tan mutants. These observations suggest that genetic variation affecting ebony and/or tan activity might cause correlated changes in pigmentation and CHC composition in natural populations. We tested this possibility using the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) and found that CHC composition covaried with pigmentation as well as levels of ebony and tan expression in newly eclosed adults in a manner consistent with the ebony and tan mutant phenotypes. These data suggest that the pleiotropic effects of ebony and tan might contribute to covariation of pigmentation and CHC profiles in Drosophila.

scholarly journals Pleiotropic Effects of ebony and tan on Pigmentation and Cuticular Hydrocarbon Composition in Drosophila melanogaster

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Massey ◽  
Noriyoshi Akiyama ◽  
Tanja Bien ◽  
Klaus Dreisewerd ◽  
Patricia J. Wittkopp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Hydrocarbon Composition ◽  
Pleiotropic Effects

scholarly journals Genetic architecture of natural variation in cuticular hydrocarbon composition in Drosophila melanogaster

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M Dembeck ◽  
Katalin Böröczky ◽  
Wen Huang ◽  
Coby Schal ◽  
Robert R H Anholt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Natural Variation ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Acid Metabolism ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Hydrocarbon Composition

Insect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) prevent desiccation and serve as chemical signals that mediate social interactions. Drosophila melanogaster CHCs have been studied extensively, but the genetic basis for individual variation in CHC composition is largely unknown. We quantified variation in CHC profiles in the D. melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) and identified novel CHCs. We used principal component (PC) analysis to extract PCs that explain the majority of CHC variation and identified polymorphisms in or near 305 and 173 genes in females and males, respectively, associated with variation in these PCs. In addition, 17 DGRP lines contain the functional Desat2 allele characteristic of African and Caribbean D. melanogaster females (more 5,9-C27:2 and less 7,11-C27:2, female sex pheromone isomers). Disruption of expression of 24 candidate genes affected CHC composition in at least one sex. These genes are associated with fatty acid metabolism and represent mechanistic targets for individual variation in CHC composition.

scholarly journals Early split between African and European populations of Drosophila melanogaster

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adamandia Kapopoulou ◽  
Martin Kapun ◽  
Pavlos Pavlidis ◽  
Bjorn Pieper ◽  
Ricardo Wilches ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Divergence Time ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
European Population ◽  
Genetic Admixture ◽  
Demographic Models ◽  
African Populations ◽  
Adaptive Processes ◽  
European Populations

AbstractNatural populations of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster have been used extensively as a model system to investigate the effect of neutral and selective processes on genetic variation. The species expanded outside its Afrotropical ancestral range during the last glacial period and numerous studies have focused on identifying molecular adaptations associated with the colonization of northern habitats. The sequencing of many genomes from African and non-African natural populations has facilitated the analysis of the interplay between adaptive and demographic processes. However, most of the non-African sequenced material has been sampled from American and Australian populations that have been introduced within the last hundred years following recent human dispersal and are also affected by recent genetic admixture with African populations. Northern European populations, at the contrary, are expected to be older and less affected by complex admixture patterns and are therefore more appropriate to investigate neutral and adaptive processes. Here we present a new dataset consisting of 14 fully sequenced haploid genomes sampled from a natural population in Umeå, Sweden. We co-analyzed this new data with an African population to compare the likelihood of several competing demographic scenarios for European and African populations. We show that allowing for gene flow between populations in neutral demographic models leads to a significantly better fit to the data and strongly affects estimates of the divergence time and of the size of the bottleneck in the European population. Our results indicate that the time of divergence between cosmopolitan and ancestral populations is 30,000 years older than reported by previous studies.

scholarly journals Spontaneous mutation for a quantitative trait in Drosophila melanogaster. II. Distribution of mutant effects on the trait and fitness

1993 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marí A. López ◽  
Carlos López-Fanjul
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Spontaneous Mutation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Recessive Gene ◽  
Considerable Effect ◽  
Pleiotropic Effects ◽  
Standing Variation ◽  
Bristle Number ◽  
B Lines

SummaryStarting from a completely homozygous population of Drosophila melanogaster, lines have been derived and subjected to 47 generations of divergent selection for abdominal bristle number (20 lines selected in each direction) or to 60–67 generations of inbreeding (100 B lines maintained by a single brother-sister mating, 100 C lines maintained by two double first cousin ma tings). In the selected lines, 25 were identified carrying at least 30 mutations affecting bristle number. A large fraction of these mutations (42 %) were lethals. Non-lethal mutations had smaller effects on the trait, were predominantly additive and had no detectable pleiotropic effects on fitness. In the inbred lines, 21 mutations affecting bristles were individually analysed. Deleterious mutations had the largest effects on the trait (irrespective of sign) and showed recessive gene action (complete or incomplete). The rest were predominantly additive and had smaller effects. Thus, both procedures identify a quasi-neutral class of additive mutations which should be close to that responsible for standing variation in natural populations. Moreover, the results indicate a leptokurtic distribution of mutant effects, consistent with a model of natural selection acting on bristles through pleiotropic effects of pertinent loci on fitness. Consequently, neutral additive alleles of considerable effect can be found segregating at intermediate frequencies in natural populations.

scholarly journals Efficient multiplexed genome engineering with a polycistronic tRNA and CRISPR guide-RNA reveals an important role of detonator in reproduction of Drosophila melanogaster

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0245454
Author(s):  
Cristin Chon ◽  
Grace Chon ◽  
Yurika Matsui ◽  
Huiqing Zeng ◽  
Zhi-Chun Lai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Genome Engineering ◽  
Transmembrane Protein ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Guide Rna ◽  
Genome Association

Genome association studies in human and genetic studies in mouse implicated members of the transmembrane protein 132 (TMEM132) family in multiple conditions including panic disorder, hearing loss, limb and kidney malformation. However, the presence of five TMEM132 paralogs in mammalian genomes makes it extremely challenging to reveal the full requirement for these proteins in vivo. In contrast, there is only one TMEM132 homolog, detonator (dtn), in the genome of fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, enabling straightforward research into its in vivo function. In the current study, we generate multiple loss-of-function dtn mutant fly strains through a polycistronic tRNA-gRNA approach, and show that most embryos lacking both maternal and paternal dtn fail to hatch into larvae, indicating an essential role of dtn in Drosophila reproduction.

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