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4,529 results for “drosophila”
Male genital lobe morphology affects the chance to copulate in Drosophila pachea
Abstract Introduction Male genitalia are thought to ensure transfer of sperm through direct physical contact with female during copulation. However, little attention has been given to their pre-copulatory role with respect to sexual selection and sexual conflict. Males of the fruitfly Drosophila pachea have a pair of asymmetric external genital lobes, which are primary sexual structures and stabilize the copulatory complex of female and male genitalia. We wondered if genital lobes in D. pachea may have a role before or at the onset of copulation, before genitalia contacts are made. Results We tested this hypothesis with a D. pachea stock where males have variable lobe lengths. In 92 mate competition trials with a single female and two males, females preferentially engaged into a first copulation with males that had a longer left lobe and that displayed increased courtship vigor. In 53 additional trials with both males having partially amputated left lobes of different lengths, we observed a weaker and non-significant effect of left lobe length on copulation success. Courtship durations significantly increased with female age and when two males courted the female simultaneously, compared to trials with only one courting male. In addition, lobe length did not affect sperm transfer once copulation was established. Conclusion Left lobe length affects the chance of a male to engage into copulation. The morphology of this primary sexual trait may affect reproductive success by mediating courtship signals or by facilitating the establishment of genital contacts at the onset of copulation.
Data from: Sustained positive consequences of genetic rescue of fitness and behavioural traits in inbred populations of Drosophila melanogaster
<p><span>One solution to alleviate the detrimental genetic effects associated with reductions in population size and fragmentation is to introduce immigrants from other populations. While the effects of this genetic rescue on fitness traits are fairly well known, it is less clear to what extent inbreeding depression and subsequent genetic rescue affects behavioural traits. In this study, replicated crosses between inbred lines of <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> were performed in order to investigate the effects of inbreeding and genetic rescue on egg-to-adult viability and negative geotaxis behaviour - a locomotor response used to measure e.g. the effects of physiological ageing. Transgenerational effects of outcrossing were investigated by examining the fitness consequences in both the F<sub>1</sub> and F<sub>4</sub> generation. The majority of inbred lines showed evidence for inbreeding depression for both egg-to-adult viability and behavioural performance (95% and 66% of lines, respectively), with inbreeding depression being more pronounced for viability compared to locomotor response. Subsequent outcrossing with immigrants led to an alleviation of the negative effects for both viability and geotaxis response resulting in inbred lines being similar to the outbred controls, with beneficial effects persisting from F<sub>1</sub> to F<sub>4</sub>. Overall, the results clearly show that genetic rescue can provide transgenerational rescue of small, inbred populations by rapidly improving population fitness components. Thus, we show that even the negative effects of inbreeding on behaviour, similar to that of neurodegeneration associated with physiological ageing, can be reversed by genetic rescue.</span></p>
Fermur lengths of Drosophila melanogaster at different developmental temperatures and Wolbachia-infection types
<p>To estimate the influence of developmental temperature and <em>Wolbachia</em> infections on body size in <em>Drosophila melanogaster,</em> we disected female flies and mounted left forelegs. Pictures were taken under a Leica DFC 490 microscope. Femur lengths, wich have proven to be a good proxy for bodysize, were measured in ImageJ. Our analyses revealed that temperature, but not <em>Wolbachia</em> infections strongly influenced female body size. See also the corresponing README.txt and the table "FullData.xlsx" within SupplementaryData.zip in the supplement of the corresponding manuscript "Complex effects of environment and Wolbachia infections on the life history of Drosophila melanogaster hosts" (DOI: <span>10.1111/jeb.14016) </span>for more details.</p>
Developmental timing of Drosophila pachea pupae is robust to temperature changes
<p>Rearing temperature is correlated with the timing and speed of development in a wide range of poikiloterm animals that do not regulate their body temperature. However, exceptions exist, especially in species that live in environments with high temperature extremes or oscillations. <em>Drosophila pachea</em> is endemic to the Sonoran desert in Mexico, in which temperatures and temperature variations are extreme. We wondered if the developmental timing in <em>D. pachea</em> may be sensitive to differing rearing temperatures or if it remains constant. We determined the overall timing of the <em>Drosophila pachea</em> life-cycle at different temperatures. The duration of pupal development was similar at 25 °C, 29 °C and 32 °C, although the relative progress differed at particular stages. Thus, <em>D. pachea</em> may have evolved mechanisms to buffer temperature effects on developmental speed, potentially to ensure proper development and individual's fitness in desert climate conditions.</p>
Drosophila melanogaster hosts coevolving with Pseudomonas entomophila pathogen show sex-specific patterns of local adaptation
<p><strong><span>Background:</span></strong></p> <p><span>In spatially structured populations, local adaptation improves organisms' fitness in their native environment. Host and pathogens can rapidly adapt to their local antagonist. Since males and females can differ in their immunocompetence, the patterns of local adaptation can be different between the sexes. However, there is little information about sex differences in local adaptation in host-pathogen systems.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Results:</span></strong></p> <p><span> </span><span>In the current study, we experimentally coevolved four different replicate populations of <em>Drosophila melanogaster </em>(host) and <em>Pseudomonas entomophila</em> (pathogen) along with appropriate controls. We used the four host-pathogen coevolution populations to investigate the occurrence of local adaptation separately in males and females of the coevolving hosts. We also assessed local adaptation in pathogens. We set up a reciprocal infection experiment where we infected each of the four coevolving hosts with their local pathogen or non-local pathogens from the other three replicate populations. We found that overall, male and female hosts had better survivorship when infected with local pathogens, indicating that they were locally adapted. Interestingly, males were more susceptible to non-local pathogens compared to females. In addition, we found no fecundity cost in females infected with either local or non-local pathogens. We found no evidence of local adaptation among the pathogens.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Conclusion:</span></strong></p> <p><span>Our study showed sex-specific adaptation in the coevolving hosts where female hosts had a broader response against allopatric coevolving pathogens with no cost in fecundity. Thus, our results might suggest a novel mechanism that can maintain variation in susceptibility in spatially structured populations.</span></p>
Evolution of a novel female reproductive strategy in Drosophila melanogaster populations subjected to long term protein restriction
<p>Reproductive output is often constrained by availability of macronutrients, especially protein. Long term protein restriction, therefore, is expected to select for traits maximizing reproduction even under nutritional challenge. We subjected four replicate populations of <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> to a complete deprivation of yeast supplement, thereby mimicking a protein restricted ecology. Following 24 generations, compared to their matched controls, females from experimental populations showed increased reproductive output early in life, both in presence and absence of yeast supplement. The observed increase in reproductive output was without associated alterations in egg size, development time, pre-adult survivorship, body mass at eclosion, and lifespan of the females. Further, selection was ineffective on lifelong cumulative fecundity. However, females from experiment regime were found to have a significantly faster rate of reproductive senescence following the attainment of the reproductive peak early in life. Therefore, adaptation to yeast deprivation ecology in our study involved a novel reproductive strategy whereby females attained higher reproductive output early in life followed by faster reproductive aging. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the cleanest demonstration of optimization of fitness by fine tuning of reproductive schedule during adaptation to a prolonged nutritional deprivation.</p>
Unique structure and positive selection promote the rapid divergence of Drosophila Y chromosomes
Y chromosomes across diverse species convergently evolve a gene-poor, heterochromatic organization enriched for duplicated genes, LTR retrotransposons, and satellite DNA. Sexual antagonism and a loss of recombination play major roles in the degeneration of young Y chromosomes. However, the processes shaping the evolution of mature, already degenerated Y chromosomes are less well-understood. Because Y chromosomes evolve rapidly, comparisons between closely related species are particularly useful. We generated de novo long read assemblies complemented with cytological validation to reveal Y chromosome organization in three closely related species of the Drosophila simulans complex, which diverged only 250,000 years ago and share >98% sequence identity. We find these Y chromosomes are divergent in their organization and repetitive DNA composition and discover new Y-linked gene families whose evolution is driven by both positive selection and gene conversion. These Y chromosomes are also enriched for large deletions, suggesting that the repair of double-strand breaks on Y chromosomes may be biased toward microhomology-mediated end joining over canonical non-homologous end-joining. We propose that this repair mechanism contributes to the convergent evolution of Y chromosome organization across organisms.
Mating traits and fitness components in two breeding designs in Drosophila serrata
<p>Misalignment between male and female interests over mating creates inter-locus sexual conflict that is known to drive the coevolution of reproductive traits. Males and females also share the majority of their genome, which may cause these traits to genetically covary between the sexes and experience intra-locus sexual conflict where beneficial alleles in one sex are costly when expressed in the other. Traits expressed during mating may uniquely be subject to both intra- and interlocus sexual conflict. Here, we use a biologically repeated quantitative genetic experiment to test whether intra-locus sexual conflict is operating on mating latency, and copulation duration in the polyandrous fruit-fly Drosophila serrata. Mating latency and copulation duration were both heritable in males but not in females, and within sex and across-sex genetic correlations among the traits were all small. We found no significant genetic covariance between any measured mating behaviours and fitness components, nor between male and female fitness, suggesting that these traits are not under strong selection. Our study, therefore, finds little evidence of ongoing intra-locus sexual conflict over these traits. One explanation for our result is that these mating traits have historically been under strong selection, which has exhausted their genetic variation, making it difficult to detect selection in these populations. Keywords: mating latency, copulation duration, quantitative genetics, sexual conflict, Drosophila serrata, multivariate analyses, cuticula. </p>
Increasing adult density compromises survival following bacterial infections in Drosophila melanogaster
<p>The density-dependent prophylaxis hypothesis predicts that risk of pathogen transmission increases with increase in population density, and in response to this, organisms mount a prophylactic immune response when exposed to high density. This prophylactic response is expected to help organisms improve their chances of survival when exposed to pathogens. Alternatively, organisms living at high densities can exhibit compromised defense against pathogens due to lack of resources and density associated physiological stress; the crowding stress hypothesis. We housed adult Drosophila melanogaster flies at different densities and measured the effect this has on their post-infection survival and resistance to starvation. We find that flies housed at higher densities show greater mortality after being infected with bacterial pathogens, while also exhibiting increased resistance to starvation. Our results are more in line with the density-stress hypothesis that postulates a compromised immune system when hosts are subjected to high densities.</p>
Thermal physiology of Drosophila tripunctata across an urbanization gradient
<p><span>In <em>Drosophila </em>spp., their often high number of annual generations, large population sizes, and large amounts of standing genetic variation should predispose them to undergo contemporary adaptation to climatic warming. However, a number of laboratory experimental evolution studies in this group of organisms suggest strong limits on the rate and magnitude of contemporary thermal adaptation. Here we explore this discrepancy by examining the potential for rapid evolutionary divergence between wild populations of <em>Drosophila </em>tripunctata (Loew 1962) from rural and urban sites. We performed a multi-generation common garden study and found evidence for the evolution of higher heat tolerance (critical thermal maximum) in urban population flies. We also detected evolutionary divergence in cold resistance (chill coma recovery time) with diminished cold resistance in urban population flies, though the effect was weaker than the shift in heat tolerance. Although our study provides evidence of contemporary urban thermal adaptation, the magnitude of phenotypic change lagged behind the magnitude of environmental temperature change across the urbanization gradient, suggesting potential limits on the evolution of urban thermal physiology. </span></p>
DYRK1a inhibitor mediated rescue of Drosophila models of Alzheimer's disease-Down Syndrome phenotypes
<p>Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease which is becoming increasingly prevalent due to ageing populations resulting in huge social, economic, and health costs to the community. Despite the pathological processing of genes such as Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) into Amyloid-b and Microtubule Associated Protein Tau (MAPT) gene, into hyperphosphorylated Tau tangles being known for decades, there remains no treatments to halt disease progression. One population with increased risk of AD are people with Down syndrome (DS), who have a 90% lifetime incidence of AD, due to trisomy of human chromosome 21 (HSA21) resulting in three copies of APP and other AD-associated genes, such as DYRK1A (Dual specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A) overexpression. This suggests that blocking DYRK1A might have therapeutic potential. However, it is still not clear to what extent DYRK1A overexpression by itself leads to AD-like phenotypes and how these compare to Tau and Amyloid-b mediated pathology. Likewise, it is still not known how effective a DYRK1A antagonist may be at preventing or improving any Tau, Amyloid-b and DYRK1a mediated phenotype. To address these outstanding questions, we characterised Drosophila models with targeted overexpression of human Tau, human Amyloid-b or the fly orthologue of DYRK1A, called minibrain (mnb). We found targeted overexpression of these AD-associated genes caused degeneration of photoreceptor neurons, shortened lifespan, as well as causing loss of locomotor performance, sleep, and memory. Treatment with the experimental DYRK1A inhibitor PST-001 decreased pathological phosphorylation of human Tau (at serine (S) 262). PST-001 reduced degeneration caused by human Tau, Amyloid-b or mnb lengthening lifespan as well as improving locomotion, sleep and memory loss caused by expression of these AD and DS genes. This demonstrated PST-001 effectiveness as a potential new therapeutic targeting AD and DS pathology.</p>
Supplementary data and code of the manuscript: "Strong evidence for the adaptive walk model of gene evolution in Drosophila and Arabidopsis"
<p>This repository contains all data tables ad code to reproduce the analysis performed in "Strong evidence for the adaptive walk model of gene evolution in Drosophila and Arabidopsis". </p>
Melanic pigmentation and light preference within and between two Drosophila species
<p>Environmental adaptation and species divergence often involve suites of co-evolving traits. Pigmentation in insects presents a variable, adaptive, and well-characterized class of phenotypes for which correlations with multiple other traits have been demonstrated. In <i>Drosophila</i>, the pigmentation genes <i>ebony</i> and <i>tan</i> have pleiotropic effects on flies' response to light, creating the potential for correlated evolution of pigmentation and vision. Here we investigate differences in light preference within and between two sister species, <i>Drosophila americana</i> and <i>D. novamexicana</i>, which differ in pigmentation in part because of evolution at <i>ebony</i> and <i>tan</i>, and occupy environments that differ in many variables including solar radiation. We hypothesized that lighter pigmentation would be correlated with a greater preference for environmental light, and tested this hypothesis using a habitat choice experiment. In a first set of experiments, using males of <i>D. novamexicana</i> line N14 and <i>D. americana</i> line A00, the light-bodied <i>D. novamexicana</i> was found slightly but significantly more often than <i>D. americana </i>in the light habitat. A second experiment, which included additional lines and females as well as males, failed to find any significant difference between <i>D. novamexicana</i>-N14 and <i>D. americana</i>-A00. Additionally, the other dark line of <i>D. americana</i> (A04) was found in the light habitat more often than the light-bodied <i>D. novamexicana</i>-N14, in contrast to our predictions. However, the lightest line of <i>D. americana</i>, A01, was found substantially and significantly more often in the light habitat than the two darker lines of <i>D. americana</i>, thus providing partial support for our hypothesis. Finally, across all four lines, females were found more often in the light habitat than their more darkly-pigmented male counterparts. Additional replication is needed to corroborate these findings and evaluate conflicting results, with the consistent effect of sex within and between species providing an especially intriguing avenue for further research.</p>
Does perception of female cues modulate male short-term fitness components in Drosophila melanogaster?
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Phenotypic plasticity in reproductive behaviour can be a strong driver of individual fitness. In species with high intra-sexual competition, changes in socio-sexual context can trigger quick adaptive plastic responses in males. In particular, a recent study in the vinegar fly (<em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>) shows that males derive net fitness benefits from being shortly exposed to female cues ahead of access to mating (termed <em>sexual perception</em>), but the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon remain unknown. Here, we investigated the short-term effects of female perception on male pre- and post-copulatory components of reproductive performance: a) mating success, b) mating latency and duration, c) sperm competitiveness, and d) ejaculate effects on female receptivity and oviposition rate. We found that brief sexual perception increased mating duration, but had no effect on the main pre- or post-copulatory fitness proxies recorded. This may suggest that male fitness benefits from responses to sexual perception do not play out in the short-term, but we discuss alternative explanations and future avenues of research. </span></p>
The nanoCUT&RUN technique visualizes telomeric chromatin in Drosophila
<p>Advances in genomic technology lead to a more focused pattern for the distribution of chromosomal proteins and a better understanding of their functions. The recent development of the CUT&RUN technique marks one of the important such advances. Here we develop a modified CUT&RUN technique that we termed nanoCUT&RUN, in which a high affinity nanobody to GFP is used to bring micrococcal nuclease to the binding sites of GFP-tagged chromatin proteins. Subsequent activation of the nuclease cleaves the chromatin, and sequencing of released DNA identifies binding sites. We show that nanoCUT&RUN efficiently produces high quality data for the TRL transcription factor in Drosophila embryos, and distinguishes binding sites specific between two TRL isoforms. We further show that nanoCUT&RUN dissects the distributions of the HipHop and HOAP telomere capping proteins, and uncovers unexpected binding of telomeric proteins at centromeres. nanoCUT&RUN can be readily applied to any system in which a chromatin protein of interest, or its isoforms, carries the GFP tag. </p>
Phosphorylated histone variant γH2Av is associated with chromatin insulators in Drosophila
<p>Chromatin insulators are responsible for orchestrating long-range interactions between enhancers and promoters throughout the genome and align with the boundaries of topologically associating domains (TADs). Here, we demonstrate an interaction between proteins that associate with the gypsy insulator and the phosphorylated histone variant H2Av (γH2Av), normally a marker of DNA double strand breaks. Gypsy insulator components colocalize with γH2Av throughout the genome, in polytene chromosomes and in diploid cells in which Chromatin IP data shows it is enriched at TAD boundaries. Mutation of insulator components prevents stable H2Av phosphorylation in polytene chromatin and phosphatase inhibition strengthens the association between insulator components and γH2Av and rescues γH2Av localization in insulator mutants. We also show that γH2Av is a component of insulator bodies, and that phosphatase activity is required for insulator body dissolution after recovery from osmotic stress. Together, our results indicate a novel mechanism linking the H2A variant γH2Av to insulator function. </p>
Mitigating transcription-replication conflicts: In early Drosophila embryos, rapid onset of transcription after mitosis depends on DNA replication
<p>This dataset includes the raw imaging data (exported from Volocity as TIF in Z-stacks or maximal projections) related to the publication: Mitigating transcription-replication conflicts: In early Drosophila embryos, rapid onset of transcription after mitosis depends on DNA replication, Cell Reports 2022.</p>
Raw data from: Natural alleles at the Doa locus underpin evolutionary changes in Drosophila lifespan and fecundity
<p>Evolve and resequence' (E&R) studies in <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> have identified many candidate loci underlying the evolution of ageing and life history, but experiments that validate the effects of such candidates remain rare. In a recent E&R study we have identified several alleles of the LAMMER kinase <em>Darkener of apricot</em> (<em>Doa</em>) as candidates for evolutionary changes in lifespan and fecundity. Here, we use two complementary approaches to confirm the functional role of <em>Doa</em> in life-history evolution. First, we used transgenic RNAi to study the effects of<em> Doa</em> at the whole-gene level. Ubiquitous silencing of expression in adult flies reduced both lifespan and fecundity, indicating pleiotropic effects. Second, to characterize segregating variation at <em>Doa</em>, we examined four candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs;<em> Doa-1, -2, -3, -4</em>) using a genetic association approach. Three candidate SNPs had effects that were qualitatively consistent with expectations based on our E&R study: <em>Doa</em>-2 pleiotropically affected both lifespan and late-life fecundity; <em>Doa</em>-1 affected lifespan (but not fecundity), and <em>Doa</em>-4 affected late-life fecundity (but not lifespan). Finally, the last candidate allele (<em>Doa</em>-3) also affected lifespan, but in the opposite direction than predicted.</p>
Data from: The neurodevelopmental genes alan shepard and Neuroglian contribute to female mate preference in African Drosophila melanogaster
<p>Mate choice is a key trait that determines fitness for most sexually reproducing organisms, with females often being the choosy sex. Female preference often results in strong selection on male traits that can drive rapid divergence of traits and preferences between lineages, leading to reproductive isolation. Despite this fundamental property of female mate choice, very few loci have been identified that contribute to mate choice and reproductive isolation. We used a combination of population genetics, quantitative complementation tests, and behavioral assays to demonstrate that alan shepard and Neuroglian contribute to female mate choice, and could contribute to partial reproductive isolation between populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Our study is among the first to identify genes that contribute to female mate preference in this historically important system, where female preference is an active premating barrier to reproduction. The identification of loci that are primarily known for their roles in neurodevelopment provides intriguing questions of how female mate preference evolves in populations via changes in sensory system and higher learning brain centers.</p>
Elevated sleep quota in a stress-resilient Drosophila species
<p>Sleep is broadly conserved across the animal kingdom but can vary widely between species. It is currently unclear which selective pressures and regulatory mechanisms influence differences in sleep between species. The fruit fly <em>Drosophila</em><em>melanogaster</em> has become a successful model system for examining sleep regulation and function, but little is known about the sleep patterns in many related fly species. Here, we find that fly species with adaptations to extreme desert environments, including <em>D. mojavensis,</em> exhibit strong increases in baseline sleep compared to <em>D. melanogaster.</em> Long-sleeping <em>D. mojavensis </em>show intact homeostasis, indicating that desert flies carry an elevated drive for sleep. In addition, <em>D. mojavensis</em> exhibit altered abundance or distribution of several sleep/wake related neuromodulators and neuropeptides that are consistent with their reduced locomotor activity and increased sleep. Finally, we find that in a nutrient-deprived environment, the sleep patterns of individual <em>D. mojavensis</em> are strongly correlated with their survival time and that disrupting sleep via constant light stimulation renders <em>D. mojavensis</em> more sensitive to starvation. Our results demonstrate that <em>D. mojavensis</em> is a novel model for studying organisms with high sleep drive, and for exploring sleep strategies that provide resilience in extreme environments.</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.