scholarly journals The role of the sugar receptor IR60b for Drosophila melanogaster: A hypothesis

Author(s):  
Paul Szyszka ◽  
C. Giovanni Galizia

In a recent paper, Joseph and colleagues (Joseph et al., 2017) have characterized the selective sucrose receptor IR60b in Drosophila, and proposed that it serves to limit sucrose consumption, and thus to prevent overfeeding. Here, we propose an alternative hypothesis for this sucrose receptor. Adult fruit flies feed by excreting saliva onto the food, and imbibing the predigested liquefied food, or by filling the crop, where the food is predigested. Enzymes in the saliva hydrolyse starch and disacharides into absorbable monosacharides. Premature ingestion into the midgut would not give the enzymes in the saliva enough time to predigest the food. Thus, IR60b might be used as a sensor to monitor the digestive state of external food or crop content: when disaccharides (sucrose) concentration is high, ingestion is inhibited, preventing the malabsorption of sucrose in the gut.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Szyszka ◽  
C. Giovanni Galizia

In a recent paper, Joseph and colleagues (Joseph et al., 2017) have characterized the selective sucrose receptor IR60b in Drosophila, and proposed that it serves to limit sucrose consumption, and thus to prevent overfeeding. Here, we propose an alternative hypothesis for this sucrose receptor. Adult fruit flies feed by excreting saliva onto the food, and imbibing the predigested liquefied food, or by filling the crop, where the food is predigested. Enzymes in the saliva hydrolyse starch and disacharides into absorbable monosacharides. Premature ingestion into the midgut would not give the enzymes in the saliva enough time to predigest the food. Thus, IR60b might be used as a sensor to monitor the digestive state of external food or crop content: when disaccharides (sucrose) concentration is high, ingestion is inhibited, preventing the malabsorption of sucrose in the gut.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 427-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Nikhil ◽  
Gupta Goirik ◽  
Karatgi Ratna ◽  
Vijay Kumar Sharma

Author(s):  
Carrie Figdor

Many people accept that chimpanzees, dolphins, and some other animals can think and feel. But these cases are just the tip of a growing iceberg. If biologists are right, fruit flies and plants make decisions, worms and honeybees can be trained, bacteria communicate linguistically, and neurons have preferences. Just how far does cognition go? This book is the first to critically consider this question from the perspective of the entire range of new ascriptions of psychological capacities throughout biology. It is also the first to consider the role of mathematical models and other quantitative forms of evidence in prompting and supporting the new ascriptions. It defends a default literal interpretation of psychological terms across biological domains. It also considers the implications of the literal view for efforts to explain the mind’s place in nature and for traditional ways of distinguishing the superior moral status of humans relative to other living beings.


Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Shearn ◽  
Grafton Hersperger ◽  
Evelyn Hersperger ◽  
Ellen Steward Pentz ◽  
Paul Denker

ABSTRACT The phenotypes of five different lethal mutants of Drosophila melanogaster that have small imaginal discs were analyzed in detail. From these results, we inferred whether or not the observed imaginal disc phenotype resulted exclusively from a primary imaginal disc defect in each mutant. To examine the validity of these inferences, we employed a multiple-allele method. Lethal alleles of the five third-chromosome mutations were identified by screening EMS-treated chromosomes for those which fail to complement with a chromosome containing all five reference mutations. Twenty-four mutants were isolated from 13,197 treated chromosomes. Each of the 24 was then tested for complementation with each of the five reference mutants. There was no significant difference in the mutation frequencies at these five loci. The stage of lethality and the imaginal disc morphology of each mutant allele were compared to those of its reference allele in order to examine the range of defects to be found among lethal alleles of each locus. In addition, hybrids of the alleles were examined for intracistronic complementation. For two of the five loci, we detected no significant phenotypic variation among lethal alleles. We infer that each of the mutant alleles at these two loci cause expression of the null activity phenotype. However, for the three other loci, we did detect significant phenotypic variation among lethal alleles. In fact, one of the mutant alleles at each of these three loci causes no detectable imaginal disc defect. This demonstrates that attempting to assess the developmental role of a gene by studying a single mutant allele may lead to erroneous conclusions. As a byproduct of the mutagenesis procedure, we have isolated two dominant, cold-sensitive mutants.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 144 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-204
Author(s):  
Christine Hoogland ◽  
Christian Biémont

Abstract Data of insertion site localization and site occupancy frequency of P, hobo, I, copia, mdg1, mdg3, 412, 297, and roo transposable elements (TEs) on the polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster were extracted from the literature. We show that TE insertion site number per chromosomal division was significantly correlated with the amount of DNA. The insertion site number weighted by DNA content was not correlated with recombination rate for all TEs except hobo, for which a positive correlation was detected. No global tendency emerged in the relationship between TE site occupancy frequency, weighted by DNA content, and recombination rate; a strong negative correlation was, however, found for the 3L arm. A possible dominant deleterious effect of chromosomal rearrangements due to recombination between TE insertions is thus not the main factor explaining the dynamics of TEs, since this hypothesis implies a negative relationship between recombination rate and both TE insertion site number and site occupancy frequency. The alternative hypothesis of selection against deleterious effects of insertional mutations is discussed.


Evolution ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eevi Savola ◽  
Clara Montgomery ◽  
Fergal M. Waldron ◽  
Katy M. Monteith ◽  
Pedro Vale ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 187 (6) ◽  
pp. 847-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Polevoy ◽  
Ho-Chun Wei ◽  
Raymond Wong ◽  
Zsofia Szentpetery ◽  
Yeun Ju Kim ◽  
...  

Successful completion of cytokinesis relies on addition of new membrane, and requires the recycling endosome regulator Rab11, which localizes to the midzone. Despite the critical role of Rab11 in this process, little is known about the formation and composition of Rab11-containing organelles. Here, we identify the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 4-kinase III β Four wheel drive (Fwd) as a key regulator of Rab11 during cytokinesis in Drosophila melanogaster spermatocytes. We show Fwd is required for synthesis of PI 4-phosphate (PI4P) on Golgi membranes and for formation of PI4P-containing secretory organelles that localize to the midzone. Fwd binds and colocalizes with Rab11 on Golgi membranes, and is required for localization of Rab11 in dividing cells. A kinase-dead version of Fwd also binds Rab11 and partially restores cytokinesis to fwd mutant flies. Moreover, activated Rab11 partially suppresses loss of fwd. Our data suggest Fwd plays catalytic and noncatalytic roles in regulating Rab11 during cytokinesis.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e0120875 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levente Kovács ◽  
Olga Nagy ◽  
Margit Pál ◽  
Andor Udvardy ◽  
Octavian Popescu ◽  
...  

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