Locomotion is not influenced by denticle number in larvae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J Fitzpatrick ◽  
Evelyn Szewczyk
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Natural Variation ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Locomotory Performance ◽  
Locomotion Speed

Denticles are small projections on the underside of larval fruit flies that are used to grip the substrate while crawling. Previous studies have shown that (i) there is natural variation in denticle number and pattern between Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen, 1830) and several closely related species and (ii) mutations affecting denticle morphology have negative effects on locomotory performance. We hypothesized that there would be a correlation between denticle number and locomotory performance within populations of D. melanogaster. Despite finding considerable variation in denticle number, we found no correlation between denticle number and three measurements of larval locomotion: speed, acceleration, and absolute turning rate.

Reproductive isolation between two closely related species of the Queensland fruit fly Dracus tryoni (Frogg) and D. neohumeralis Hardy (Diptera : Tephritidae) I. Variation in humeral callus pattern and the occurrence of intermediate colour forms in the wild

1967 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Wolda
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Similar Variation ◽  
In The Wild

A number of samples from wild populations of the Queensland fruit fly, Dacus tryoni and D. neohumeralis, were studied. There is a considerable variation in the colour pattern on the humeral callus. This variation is continuous so that any criterion for distinguishing between "intermediates" and "good species" is purely arbitrary. It was found in areas where D. neohumeralis does not occur as well as in localities where it is very abundant. By whatever criterion one defines intermediates, there appears to be no relation between the frequency of such forms and the presence or absence of D. neohumeralis or with the relative proportions of the two species in the population. However, flies with only a very small yellow area on an otherwise brown humeral callus were found only in Cairns where D. neohumeralis is usually the most abundant species. A similar variation in humeral callus pattern was found in other related species, such as D. kraussi and D. halfordiae. It is concluded that the intermediate colour forms may not be hybrids between D. tryoni and D. neohumeralis but variants of D. tryoni and, possibly the darker forms from Cairns, of D. neohumeralis.

scholarly journals Head Transcriptomes of Two Closely Related Species of Fruit Flies of theAnastrepha fraterculusGroup Reveals Divergent Genes in Species with Extensive Gene Flow

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 3283-3295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Borges Rezende ◽  
Carlos Congrains ◽  
André Luís A. Lima ◽  
Emeline Boni Campanini ◽  
Aline Minali Nakamura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Closely Related Species

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 Lack of underdominance in a naturally occurring pericentric inversion in Drosophila melanogaster and its implications for chromosome evolution.

Genetics ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 791-802
Author(s):  
J A Coyne ◽  
S Aulard ◽  
A Berry
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Genetic Drift ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Pericentric Inversion ◽  
Chromosome Evolution ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Naturally Occurring

Abstract In(2LR)PL is a large pericentric inversion polymorphic in populations of Drosophila melanogaster on two Indian Ocean islands. This polymorphism is puzzling: because crossing over in female heterokaryotypes produces inviable zygotes, such inversions are thought to be underdominant and should be quickly eliminated from populations. The observed fixation for such inversions among related species has led to the idea that genetic drift can cause chromosome evolution in opposition to natural selection. We found, however, that In(2LR)PL is not underdominant for fertility, as heterokaryotypic females produce perfectly viable eggs. Genetic analysis shows that the lack of underdominance results from the nearly complete absence of crossing over in the inverted region. This phenomenon is probably caused by mechanical and not genetic factors, because crossing over is not suppressed in In(2LR)PL homokaryotypes. Our observations do not support the idea that the fixation of pericentric inversions among closely related species implies the action of genetic drift overcoming strong natural selection in very small populations. If chromosome arrangements vary in their underdominance, it is those with the least disadvantage as heterozygotes, like In(2LR)PL, that will be polymorphic or fixed in natural populations.

scholarly journals The Loci of Behavioral Evolution: Evidence That Fas2 and tilB Underlie Differences in Pupation Site Choice Behavior between Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 864-880
Author(s):  
Alison Pischedda ◽  
Michael P Shahandeh ◽  
Thomas L Turner
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
X Chromosome ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
Pupation Site

Abstract The behaviors of closely related species can be remarkably different, and these differences have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. Although the recent boom in genotype–phenotype studies has led to a greater understanding of the genetic architecture and evolution of a variety of traits, studies identifying the genetic basis of behaviors are, comparatively, still lacking. This is likely because they are complex and environmentally sensitive phenotypes, making them difficult to measure reliably for association studies. The Drosophila species complex holds promise for addressing these challenges, as the behaviors of closely related species can be readily assayed in a common environment. Here, we investigate the genetic basis of an evolved behavioral difference, pupation site choice, between Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. In this study, we demonstrate a significant contribution of the X chromosome to the difference in pupation site choice behavior between these species. Using a panel of X-chromosome deficiencies, we screened the majority of the X chromosome for causal loci and identified two regions associated with this X-effect. We then collect gene disruption and RNAi data supporting a single gene that affects pupation behavior within each region: Fas2 and tilB. Finally, we show that differences in tilB expression correlate with the differences in pupation site choice behavior between species. This evidence associating two genes with differences in a complex, environmentally sensitive behavior represents the first step toward a functional and evolutionary understanding of this behavioral divergence.

scholarly journals Aggression and discrimination among closely versus distantly related species of Drosophila

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 190069
Author(s):  
Tarun Gupta ◽  
Sarah E. Howe ◽  
Marlo L. Zorman ◽  
Brent L. Lockwood
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Distance ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Aggressive Behaviour ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Male Aggression ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Heterospecific Aggression

Fighting between different species is widespread in the animal kingdom, yet this phenomenon has been relatively understudied in the field of aggression research. Particularly lacking are studies that test the effect of genetic distance, or relatedness, on aggressive behaviour between species. Here we characterized male–male aggression within and between species of fruit flies across the Drosophila phylogeny. We show that male Drosophila discriminate between conspecifics and heterospecifics and show a bias for the target of aggression that depends on the genetic relatedness of opponent males. Specifically, males of closely related species treated conspecifics and heterospecifics equally, whereas males of distantly related species were overwhelmingly aggressive towards conspecifics. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify aggression between Drosophila species and to establish a behavioural bias for aggression against conspecifics versus heterospecifics. Our results suggest that future study of heterospecific aggression behaviour in Drosophila is warranted to investigate the degree to which these trends in aggression among species extend to broader behavioural, ecological and evolutionary contexts.

scholarly journals Comparative sequence analysis of a gene-dense region among closely related species of Drosophila melanogaster

2004 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 351-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Kawahara ◽  
Takashi Matsuo ◽  
Masafumi Nozawa ◽  
Tadasu Shin-I ◽  
Yuji Kohara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sequence Analysis ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Comparative Sequence Analysis ◽  
Dense Region ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Comparative Sequence

scholarly journals Independent natural genetic variation of punishment- versus relief-memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 20160657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjam Appel ◽  
Claus-Jürgen Scholz ◽  
Samet Kocabey ◽  
Sinead Savage ◽  
Christian König ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Natural Variation ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Inbred Strains ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Natural Genetic Variation ◽  
Study Case ◽  
Positive Valence

A painful event establishes two opponent memories: cues that are associated with pain onset are remembered negatively, whereas cues that coincide with the relief at pain offset acquire positive valence. Such punishment- versus relief-memories are conserved across species, including humans, and the balance between them is critical for adaptive behaviour with respect to pain and trauma. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster as a study case, we found that both punishment- and relief-memories display natural variation across wild-derived inbred strains, but they do not covary, suggesting a considerable level of dissociation in their genetic effectors. This provokes the question whether there may be heritable inter-individual differences in the balance between these opponent memories in man, with potential psycho-clinical implications.

scholarly journals Transposable element dynamics are consistent across the Drosophila phylogeny, despite drastically differing content

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Hill
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Drosophila Phylogeny ◽  
Turn Over ◽  
Insertion Frequency

AbstractBackgroundThe evolutionary dynamics of transposable elements (TEs) vary across the tree of life and even between closely related species with similar ecologies. In Drosophila, most of the focus on TE dynamics has been completed in Drosophila melanogaster and the overall pattern indicates that TEs show an excess of low frequency insertions, consistent with their frequent turn over and high fitness cost in the genome. Outside of D. melanogaster, insertions in the species Drosophila algonquin, suggests that this situation may not be universal, even within Drosophila. Here we test whether the pattern observed in D. melanogaster is similar across five Drosophila species that share a common ancestor more than fifty million years ago.ResultsFor the most part, TE family and order insertion frequency patterns are broadly conserved between species, supporting the idea that TEs have invaded species recently, are mostly costly and dynamics are conserved in orthologous regions of the host genomeConclusionsMost TEs retain similar activities and fitness costs across the Drosophila phylogeny, suggesting little evidence of drift in the dynamics of TEs across the phylogeny, and that most TEs have invaded species recently.

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