Project description:To address the molecular mechanisms underlying environmental adaptation, we studied a Drosophila melanogaster line, termed Dark-fly, which has been maintained in constant dark conditions for 57 years (1400 generations).The structural gene copy number changes between the dark fly and its control were assessed by aCGH array. The comparison showed that hundreds of genes in the dark fly bear duplications or deletions relative to the control line.
Project description:To understand the effects of the microbiome of Drosophila melanogaster on host gene expression, we compared the transcriptome of guts from conventionally reared flies to their axenically (germ-free)-reared counterparts. Our analysis used dissected intestines from 4-7 day-old adult females and included two wild-type fly lines, OregonR and CantonS, as well as an immune-deficient line, RelishE20. With one of the wild-type lines, CantonS, we also looked at the impact of microbiome on the transcriptional profile of dissected intestines from aged cohorts (35-40 day-old females) and young (4-7 day-old) non-gut tissues (all tissues remaining from samples dissected for the analysis of guts.
Project description:Drosophila melanogaster larvae reared on isocaloric diets with different protein/sugar ratios, exhibit different developmental times and the eclosed adults show different metabolite pools of glycogen and triglycerides (Matzkin et al., 2011, PMID: 21525254). To investigate the effect of larval diet on adult neurological processes at the gene expression level we performed high throughout RNA sequencing of fly heads reared in two different protein/sugar ratio diets.
Project description:Thermal acclimation study on Drosophila melanogaster reared at 3 different temperatures (12, 25, and 31oC). The proteomic profiles of D. melanogaster under these different temperatures were analyzed and compared using label-free tandem mass spectrometry.
Project description:To investigate gene expression changes in Drosophila head tissues during social isolation, we performed RNA-sequencing on fruit fly head samples obtained from male flies that have been group-reared for 7 days (Grp), isolated (single-housed) for 7 days (Iso7) and isolated (single-housed) for only 1 day (Iso1). Using differential gene expression analysis, we found a group of candidate genes that are specific to chronic social isolation: they exhibited significant gene expression change in both comparisons of “Grp vs Iso1” and “Iso1 vs Iso7”.
Project description:To address the molecular mechanisms underlying environmental adaptation, we studied a Drosophila melanogaster line, termed Dark-fly, which has been maintained in constant dark conditions for 57 years (1400 generations).The structural gene copy number changes between the dark fly and its control were assessed by aCGH array. The comparison showed that hundreds of genes in the dark fly bear duplications or deletions relative to the control line. The copy number increase and decrease in the dark flies were determined by two-channel array hybridization with the control line. In addition to biological replicates, a Cy5-Cy3 dye swap was performed.Self-hybridization was also conducted to serve as a quality control.
Project description:Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are vital in determining the specificity of translation. Mutations in tRNAs can result in the mis-incorporation of amino acids into nascent polypeptides in a process known as mistranslation. Here, our goal was to test the impacts of different types of mistranslation in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, as impact of mistranslation depends on the type of amino acid substitution. We created two fly lines - one expressing a serine tRNA variant with valine anticodon and the other with a serine tRNA variant with a threonine anticodon. Using mass spectrometry, we measure the amount of mistranslation at various points in fly development.
