scholarly journals Evolution of behavioural and cellular defences against parasitoid wasps in the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1016-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. R. Lynch ◽  
T. A. Schlenke ◽  
J. C. de Roode
Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-683
Author(s):  
A Caccone ◽  
G D Amato ◽  
J R Powell

Abstract Levels of DNA divergence among the eight species of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup and D. takahashii have been determined using the technique of DNA-DNA hybridization. Two types of DNA were used: single-copy nuclear DNA (scnDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The major findings are: (1) A phylogeny has been derived for the group based on scnDNA which is congruent with chromosomal data, morphology, and behavior. The three homosequential species, simulans, sechellia, and mauritiana, are very closely related; the scnDNA divergence indicate the two island species are a monophyletic group. (2) The rates of change of scnDNA and mtDNA are not greatly different; if anything scnDNA evolves faster than mtDNA. (3) The rates of scnDNA evolution are not closely correlated to chromosomal (inversion) evolution. (4) The Drosophila genome appears to consist of two distinct classes of scnDNA with respect to rate of evolutionary change, a very rapidly evolving fraction and a relatively conservative fraction. (5) The absolute rate of change was estimated to be at least 1.7% nucleotide substitution per one million years. (6) DNA distance estimates based on restriction site variation are correlated with distances based on DNA-DNA hybridization, although the correlation is not very strong.


2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 908-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Terzian ◽  
Concepcion Ferraz ◽  
Jacques Demaille ◽  
Alain Bucheton

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
SM Stanley ◽  
PA Parsons ◽  
GE Spence ◽  
L Weber

Resistance to the extreme stresses of high temperature-desiccation and low temperature were compared among six species of the melanogaster species subgroup of Drosophila. D. melanogaster was the most resistant to all stresses. The cosmopolitan species, D. melanogaster and D. simulans, were more resistant to cold stresses than the four endemic species, D. mauritiana, D. teissieri, D. yakuba and D. erecta. D. simulans, D. mauritiana and D. teissieri showed similar resistance to heat and desiccation, while D. yakuba and especially D. erecta were sensitive to these stresses. A prerequisite for the spread of the cosmopolitan species into temperate zones thus appears to have involved a level of resistance to cold stress exceeding that of the endemics. A greater resistance to heat and desiccation stresses, such as that found in D. melanogaster, may also be necessary for the invasion of more extreme environments. All species with the exception of D. erecta and to a lesser extent D. yakuba can survive 6 h at the extreme temperature of 34�C at 95% RH, and in addition most of those flies surviving stresses of this type are fertile. This suggests that these species can survive short stress periods in a humid microhabitat in the wild.


Heredity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 592-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Elouise Jones ◽  
Gregory David Douglas Hurst

AbstractThe ability of an insect to survive attack by natural enemies can be modulated by the presence of defensive symbionts. Study of aphid–symbiont–enemy interactions has indicated that protection may depend on the interplay of symbiont, host and attacking parasite genotypes. However, the importance of these interactions is poorly understood outside of this model system. Here, we study interactions within a Drosophila model system, in which Spiroplasma protect their host against parasitoid wasps and nematodes. We examine whether the strength of protection conferred by Spiroplasma to its host, Drosophila melanogaster varies with strain of attacking Leptopilina heterotoma wasp. We perform this analysis in the presence and absence of ethanol, an environmental factor that also impacts the outcome of parasitism. We observed that Spiroplasma killed all strains of wasp. However, the protection produced by Spiroplasma following wasp attack depended on wasp strain. A composite measure of protection, including both the chance of the fly surviving attack and the relative fecundity/fertility of the survivors, varied from a <4% positive effect of the symbiont following attack of the fly host by the Lh14 strain of wasp to 21% for the Lh-Fr strain in the absence of ethanol. We also observed that environmental ethanol altered the pattern of protection against wasp strains. These data indicate that the dynamics of the Spiroplasma–Drosophila–wasp tripartite interaction depend upon the genetic diversity within the attacking wasp population, and that prediction of symbiont dynamics in natural systems will thus require analysis across natural enemy genotypes and levels of environmental ethanol.


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