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opencc-zeroNov 2022View details →

Recovery from heat-induced infertility: A study of reproductive tissue responses and fitness consequences in male Drosophila melanogaster

The predicted temperature increase caused by climate change is a threat to biodiversity. Across animal taxa, male reproduction is often sensitive to elevated temperatures leading to fertility loss and in more adverse scenarios, this can result in sterility when males reach their upper thermal fertility limit. Here we investigate temperature-induced changes in reproductive tissues, fertility reduction, sterility, and the associated fitness loss during the subsequent recovery phase in male Drosophila melanogaster. We heat-stressed males during development and either allowed them to recover or not in early adulthood, while measuring several determinants of male reproductive success. We found significant differences in recovery rate, organ sizes, sperm production, and other key reproductive traits among males from our different temperature treatments. Sperm maturation was impaired before reaching the upper thermal sterility threshold. While some effects were reversible, this did not compensate for the fitness loss due to damage imposed during development. Surprisingly, developmental heat stress was damaging to accessory gland growth, and female post-mating responses mediated by seminal fluid proteins were impaired regardless of the possibility of recovery. We suggest that sub-lethal thermal sterility and the subsequent fertility reduction is caused by a combination of inefficient functionality of both the accessory gland and testes.

opencc-zeroNov 2022View details →

Genetic variation of morphological scaling in Drosophila

Morphological scaling relationships between the sizes of individual traits and the body captures the characteristic shape of a species, and the evolution of scaling is the primary mechanism of morphological diversification. However, we have almost no knowledge of the genetic variation of scaling, which is critical if we are to understand how scaling evolves. Here we explore the genetics of population morphological scaling relationships – the scaling relationship fit to multiple genetically-distinct individuals in a population – by describing the distribution of individual scaling relationships – the genotype-specific scaling relationships that are unseen or cryptic. These individual scaling relationships harbor the genetic variation that determines relative trait growth within individuals, and theoretical studies suggest that their distribution dictates how the population scaling relationship will respond to selection. Using variation in nutrition to generate size variation within 194 isogenic lineages of Drosophila melanogaster, we reveal extensive variation in the slopes of the wing-body and leg-body scaling relationships among genotypes. This genetic variation reflects variation in the nutritionally-induced size plasticity of the wing, leg, and body. Surprisingly, we find that variation in the slope of individual scaling relationships primarily results from variation in nutritionally-induced plasticity of body size, not leg or wing size. These data allow us to predict how different selection regimes affect scaling in Drosophila and are the first step in identifying the genetic targets of such selection. More generally, our approach provides a framework for understanding the genetic variation of scaling, an important prerequisite to explaining how selection changes scaling and morphology.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

DATA : Reward expectations direct learning and drive operant matching in Drosophila

This dataset contains all the behavioral data used in the research report titled " Reward expectations direct learning and drive operant matching in Drosophila" currently submitted to PNAS.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

A reductionist paradigm for high-throughput behavioural fingerprinting in Drosophila melanogaster - DATASET 2 of 2

Dataset associated with "A reductionist paradigm for high-throughput behavioural fingerprinting in Drosophila melanogaster" by Jones et al 2022  See http://lab.gilest.ro/coccinella for more information This is archive 2 of 2

Assessing potential hybridization between a hypothetical gene drive-modified Drosophila suzukii and non-target Drosophila species

Genetically engineered gene drives (geGD) are potentially powerful tools for suppressing or even eradicating populations of pest insects. Before living geGD insects can be released into the environment, they must pass an environmental risk assessment (ERA) to ensure that their release will not harm valued and protected entities of the environment. A key research question concerns the likelihood that non-target species will acquire the functional GD elements; such acquisition could lead to the loss of those species and to a disruption of the ecosystem services they provide. The main route for gene flow is through hybridization between the GD insect strain and closely related species that co-occur in the area of release. Using the invasive spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, as a case study, we demonstrate how a combination of interspecific hybridization experiments, behavioral observations, and molecular genetic analyses can be used to assess the potential for hybridization.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →

Data for: Neural correlates of individual odor preference in Drosophila

Data associated with: Neural correlates of individual odor preference in Drosophila Abstract: Behavior varies even among genetically identical animals raised in the same environment. However, little is known about the circuit or anatomical origins of this individuality. We show individual Drosophila odor preferences (odor-vs-air and odor-vs-odor) are predicted by idiosyncratic calcium dynamics in olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) and projection neurons (PNs), respectively. Variation in ORN presynaptic density also predicts odor-vs-odor preference. The ORN-PN synapse appears to be a locus of individuality where microscale variation gives rise to idiosyncratic behavior. Finally, simulating microscale stochasticity in ORN-PN synapses of a 3,062-neuron model of the antennal lobe recapitulates patterns of variation in PN calcium responses matching experiments. Our results demonstrate how physiological and microscale structural circuit variations can give rise to individual behavior, even when genetics and environment are held constant.

Evolutionary conservation and diversification of auditory neural circuits that process courtship songs in Drosophila

Acoustic communication signals diversify even on short evolutionary time scales. To understand how the auditory system underlying acoustic communication could evolve, we conducted a systematic comparison of the early stages of the auditory neural circuit involved in song information processing between closely-related fruit-fly species. Male Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans produce different sound signals during mating rituals, known as courtship songs. Female flies from these species selectively increase their receptivity when they hear songs with conspecific temporal patterns. Here, we first confirmed interspecific differences in temporal pattern preferences; D. simulans preferred pulse songs with longer intervals than D. melanogaster. Primary and secondary song-relay neurons, JO neurons and AMMC-B1 neurons, shared similar morphology and neurotransmitters between species. The temporal pattern preferences of AMMC-B1 neurons were also relatively similar between species, with slight but significant differences in their band-pass properties. Although the shift direction of the response property matched that of the behavior, these differences are not large enough to explain behavioral differences in song preferences. This study enhances our understanding of the conservation and diversification of the architecture of the early-stage neural circuit which processes acoustic communication signals.

Condition dependence and sexual dimorphism in Drosophila prolongata

Directional sexual selection drives the evolution of traits that are most closely linked to reproductive success, giving rise to trait exaggeration and sexual dimorphism. Exaggerated structures are often costly and, therefore, thought to be expressed in a condition-dependent manner. Sexual selection theory thus predicts a direct link between directional sexual selection, sexual dimorphism, and sex-specific condition dependence. However, only a handful of studies investigate the relationship between sexual dimorphism and condition dependence. Using 21 genetic lines of Drosophila prolongata, we here compared the degree of sexual dimorphism and sex-specific condition dependence, measured as allometric slopes, in sexually selected and non-sexual traits. Our data revealed male-biased sexual dimorphism in all traits examined, most prominently in the sexually selected forelegs. However, there was no relationship between the degree of sex-specific condition dependence and sexual dimorphism across traits and genetic lines. Our results contradict theoretical predictions and highlight the importance of understanding the role of exaggerated traits in the context of both sexual and natural selection.

Morphogenetic forces planar polarize LGN/Pins in the embryonic head during Drosophila gastrulation

Spindle orientation is often achieved by a complex of Partner of Inscuteable (Pins)/LGN, Mushroom Body Defect (Mud)/Nuclear Mitotic Apparatus (NuMa), Gαi, and Dynein, which interacts with astral microtubules to rotate the spindle. Cortical Pins/LGN recruitment serves as a critical step in this process. Here, we identify Pins-mediated planar cell polarized divisions in several of the mitotic domains of the early Drosophila embryo. We found that neither planar cell polarity pathways nor planar polarized myosin localization determined division orientation; instead, our findings strongly suggest that Pins planar polarity and force generated from mesoderm invagination are important. Disrupting Pins polarity via overexpression of a myristoylated version of Pins caused randomized division angles. We found that disrupting forces through chemical inhibitors, depletion of an adherens junction protein, or blocking mesoderm invagination disrupted Pins planar polarity and spindle orientation. Furthermore, directional ablations that separated mesoderm from mitotic domains disrupted spindle orientation, suggesting that forces transmitted from mesoderm to mitotic domains can polarize Pins and orient division during gastrulation. To our knowledge, this is the first in vivo example where mechanical force has been shown to polarize Pins to mediate division orientation.

TE invasion fuels molecular adaptation in laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Transposable elements are mobile genetic parasites that frequently invade new host genomes through horizontal transfer. Invading TEs often exhibit a burst of transposition, followed by reduced transposition rates as repression evolves in the host. We recreated the horizontal transfer of P-element DNA transposons into a D. melanogaster host and followed the expansion of TE copies and evolution of host repression in replicate laboratory populations reared at different temperatures. We observed that while populations maintained at high temperatures rapidly go extinct after TE invasion, those maintained at lower temperatures persist, allowing for TE spread and the evolution of host repression. We also surprisingly discovered that invaded populations experienced recurrent insertion of P-elements into a specific long non-coding RNA, lncRNA:CR43651, and that these insertion alleles are segregating at unusually high frequency in experimental populations, indicative of positive selection. We propose that, in addition to driving the evolution of repression, transpositional bursts of invading TEs can drive molecular adaptation.

Sex-specific paternal age effects on offspring quality in Drosophila melanogaster

Advanced paternal age has been repeatedly shown to modulate offspring quality via male- and/or female-driven processes, and there are theoretical reasons to expect that some of these effects can be sex-specific. For example, sex allocation theory predicts that, when mated with low-condition males, mothers should invest more in their daughters compared to their sons. This is because male fitness is generally more condition-dependent and more variable than female fitness, which makes it less risky to invest in female offspring. Here, we explore whether paternal age can affect the quality and quantity of offspring in a sex-specific way using Drosophila melanogaster as model organism. In order to understand the contribution of male-driven processes on paternal age effects, we also measured the seminal vesicle size of young and older males and explored its relationship with reproductive success and offspring quality. Older males had lower competitive reproductive success, as expected, but there was no difference between the offspring sex ratio of young and older males. However, we found that paternal age caused an increase in offspring quality (i.e., offspring weight), and that this increase was more marked in daughters than sons. We discuss different male- and female-driven processes that may explain such sex-specific paternal age effects.

Data from: Higher evolutionary dynamics of gene copy number for Drosophila glue genes located near short repeat sequences

Background During evolution, genes can experience duplications, losses, inversions and gene conversions. Why certain genes are more dynamic than others is poorly understood. Here we examine how several Sgs genes encoding glue proteins, which make up a bioadhesive that sticks the animal during metamorphosis, have evolved in Drosophila species. Results We examined high-quality genome assemblies of 24 Drosophila species to study the evolutionary dynamics of four glue genes that are present in D. melanogaster and are part of the same gene family – Sgs1, Sgs3, Sgs7 and Sgs8 – across approximately 30 millions of years. We annotated a total of 102 Sgs genes and grouped them into 4 subfamilies. We present here a new nomenclature for these Sgs genes based on protein sequence conservation, genomic location and presence/absence of internal repeats. Two types of glue genes were uncovered. The first category (Sgs1, Sgs3x, Sgs3e) showed a few gene losses but no duplication, no local inversion and no gene conversion. The second group (Sgs3b, Sgs7, Sgs8) exhibited multiple events of gene losses, gene duplications, local inversions and gene conversions. Our data suggest that the presence of short "new glue" genes near the genes of the latter group may have accelerated their dynamics. Conclusions Our comparative analysis suggests that the evolutionary dynamics of glue genes is influenced by genomic context. Our molecular, phylogenetic and comparative analysis of the four glue genes Sgs1, Sgs3, Sgs7 and Sgs8 provides the foundation for investigating the role of the various glue genes during Drosophila life.

16s rRNA sequencing of Wolbachia-infected and uninfected Drosophila male gut

Wolbachia are the most widely distributed intracellular bacteria, and their most common effect on host phenotype is cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). A variety of models have been proposed to decipher the molecular mechanism of CI, in which the HM (host modification) model predicts that the effectors of Wolbachia play an important role in sperm modification. However, due to the complexity of spermatogenesis and cell-type heterogeneity in the testis, we still do not know whether Wolbachia have different effects on cells at different stages of spermatogenesis, nor whether these effects are linked with CI. Therefore, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze gene expression profiles in the adult male Drosophila testes with or without Wolbachia infection. We found that Wolbachia significantly affected the proportion of different types of germ cells and affected multiple metabolic pathways in germ cells. Most importantly, Wolbachia had the greatest impact on germline stem cells (GSCs), resulting in the dysregulation expression of genes related to nucleosome assembly and CI, Wolbachia infection also influenced the histone-to-protamine transition in the late stage of sperm development. These results suggest that future studies of Wolbachia-mediated sperm modification should focus more on cells in the early stages of spermatogenesis.

Data for: Chloride-dependent mechanisms of multimodal sensory discrimination and nociceptive sensitization in Drosophila

Individual sensory neurons can be tuned to many stimuli, each driving unique, stimulus-relevant behaviors, and the ability of multimodal nociceptor neurons to discriminate between potentially harmful and innocuous stimuli is broadly important for organismal survival. Moreover, disruptions in the capacity to differentiate between noxious and innocuous stimuli can result in neuropathic pain. Drosophila larval Class III (CIII) neurons are peripheral noxious cold nociceptors and innocuous touch mechanosensors; high levels of activation drive cold-evoked contraction (CT) behavior, while low levels of activation result in a suite of touch-associated behaviors. However, it is unknown what molecular factors underlie CIII multimodality. Here, we show that the TMEM16/anoctamins subdued and white walker (wwk; CG15270) are required for cold-evoked CT, but not for touch-associated behavior, indicating a conserved role for anoctamins in nociception. We also evidence that CIII neurons make use of atypical depolarizing chloride currents to encode cold, and that overexpression of ncc69-a fly homologue of NKCC1-results in phenotypes consistent with neuropathic sensitization, including behavioral sensitization and neuronal hyperexcitability, making Drosophila CIII neurons a candidate system for future studies of the basic mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain

Divergent selection on behavioural and chemical traits between reproductively isolated populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Speciation is driven by traits that can act to prevent mating between nascent lineages, including male courtship and female preference for male traits. Mating barriers involving these traits evolve quickly because there is strong selection on males and females to maximize reproductive success, and the tight co-evolution of mating interactions can lead to rapid diversification of sexual behavior. Populations of D. melanogaster show strong asymmetrical reproductive isolation that is correlated with geographic origin. Using strains that capture natural variation in mating traits, we ask two key questions: which specific male traits are females selecting, and are these traits under divergent sexual selection? These questions have proven extremely challenging to answer, because even in closely related lineages males often differ in multiple traits related to mating behavior. We address these questions by estimating selection gradients for male courtship and cuticular hydrocarbons for two different female genotypes. We identify specific behaviors and particular cuticular hydrocarbons that are under divergent sexual selection and could potentially contribute to premating reproductive isolation. Additionally, we report that a subset of these traits are plastic; males adjust these traits based on the identity of the female genotype they interact with. These results suggest that even when male courtship is not fixed between lineages, ongoing selection can act on traits that are important for reproductive isolation.

opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

Using inbreeding to test the contribution of non-additive genetic effects to additive genetic variance: A case study in Drosophila serrata

Additive genetic variance, VA, is the key parameter for predicting adaptive and neutral phenotypic evolution. Changes in demography (e.g., increased close-relative inbreeding) can alter VA, but how depends on the, typically unknown, gene action and allele frequencies across many loci. For example, VA increases proportionally with the inbreeding coefficient when allelic effects are additive, but larger (or smaller) increases can occur when allele frequencies are unequal at causal loci with dominance effects. Here, we describe an experimental approach to assess the potential for rare, recessive alleles to inflate VA under inbreeding. Applying a powerful paired pedigree design in Drosophila serrata, we measured 11 wing traits on half-sibling families bred via either random or sibling mating, differing only in homozygosity (not allele frequency). Despite close inbreeding and substantial power to detect small VA, we detected no deviation from the expected additive effect of inbreeding on genetic (co)variances. Our results suggest the average dominance coefficient is very small relative to the additive effect, or that allele frequencies are relatively equal at loci affecting wing traits. We outline the further opportunities for this paired pedigree approach to reveal the characteristics of VA, providing insight into historical selection and future evolutionary potential.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →

Data for: Neural correlates of individual odor preference in Drosophila

Data associated with: Neural correlates of individual odor preference in Drosophila Behavior varies even among genetically identical animals raised in the same environment. However, little is known about the circuit or anatomical origins of this individuality. We show individual Drosophila odor preferences (odor-vs-air and odor-vs-odor) are predicted by idiosyncratic calcium dynamics in olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) and projection neurons (PNs), respectively. Variation in ORN presynaptic density also predicts odor-vs-odor preference. The ORN-PN synapse appears to be a locus of individuality where microscale variation gives rise to idiosyncratic behavior. Finally, simulating microscale stochasticity in ORN-PN synapses of a 3,062-neuron model of the antennal lobe recapitulates patterns of variation in PN calcium responses matching experiments. Our results demonstrate how physiological and microscale structural circuit variations can give rise to individual behavior, even when genetics and environment are held constant.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

Centripetal migration in Drosophila ovary II: wild type timelapse & milestone duration

Part of data supporting Figs 1,3,S2 of “Two phases for centripetal migration of Drosophila melanogaster follicle cells: initial ingression followed by epithelial migration” DOI: 10.1242/dev.200492 Data files descriptions: <ul> <li>“10.25.17 – ShgGFP 40x-timelapse”                            6.4 GB</li> </ul>             shg-GFP marker timelapse image data used for milestone duration   <ul> <li>“fixed samples with DAPI”                                                 473.5 MB</li> </ul>              Fixed sample image data <ul> <li>“Full Cell Behaviors & Timing Analysis”                                 10 KB</li> </ul>              Quantitation of intervals between landmarks and total time elapsed <ul> <li>“Landmarks pre-analysis”                                                             8 KB</li> </ul>            Candidate morphological landmarks and ordering <ul> <li>“GR1-tdEOS analysis”                                                             3 KB</li> </ul>             Evaluation of samples from Vkg-GFP GR! tdEOS data <ul> <li>“Vkg-GFP GR1-tdEOS timelapse”                                11.43 GB</li> </ul>              timelapse image data <ul> <li>“Vkg-GFP GR1-Tomato timelapse”                              12.9 GB</li> </ul>              timelapse image data

opencc-zeroMar 2023View details →

Genetic variation in sexual size dimorphism is associated with variation in sex-specific plasticity in Drosophila

The difference in body size between females and males, or sexual size dimorphism (SSD), is ubiquitous, and yet we have a poor understanding of the developmental-genetic mechanisms that generate it, and how these mechanisms may vary within and among species. Such an understanding of the genetic architecture of SSD is important if we are to evaluate alternative models of SSD evolution, but is difficult to describe because SSD is a characteristic of populations, not individuals. Here, we overcome this challenge by using isogenic lineages of Drosophila to measure SSD for 196 genotypes. We demonstrate extensive genetic variation for SSD, primarily driven by higher levels of genetic variation for body size among females than males. While we observe a general increase in SSD with sex-averaged body size (pooling for sex) among lineages, the vast majority of variation in SSD is independent of sex-averaged body size, and shows a strong genetic correlation with sex-specific plasticity, such that increased female-biased SSD is associated with increased body-size plasticity in females. Our data are consistent with the condition-dependence hypothesis of sexual dimorphism, and suggest that SSD in Drosophila is a consequence of selection on the developmental-genetic mechanisms that regulate the plasticity of body size.