Project description:We used microarrays to investigate the transcriptome of male flies exposed to either a rich or a poor nutrient environment during development. Further we investigated transcriptome of their offspring and grand-offspring also developed at poor or rich diet. The ability of organisms to cope with poor quality nutrition is essential for their persistence. For species with short generation time, the nutritional environments can transcend generations, making it beneficial for adults to prime their offspring to particular diets. However, our understanding of potential adaptive generational effects, including those of diet quality, is still very limited. Here we use the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate if females developing as larvae on a nutritionally poor diet produce offspring that are primed for nutrient deficiencies in the following generations. We found that females developed at low quality diets produced offspring, which at similarly low-quality diets had both increased egg-to-adult viability and starvation tolerance compared to females experiencing a nutrient rich diet in the previous generation. When testing the persistence of such generational priming, we found that just one generation of high-quality diet is sufficient to return performance to initial levels. A global transcriptomic profile analysis suggests that the observed phenotypic priming is not a constitutive transcriptomic adjustment, instead offspring appear primed to initiate an adaptive response only when exposed to low quality diets. Our results show that generational priming is likely an important adaptive mechanism of coping with transient nutritional fluctuations.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of anterior ovarioles (germaria and round previtellogenic egg chambers) of w1118 virgin females of Drosophila melanogaster 1 to 8 days post eclosion.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of 3 day old virgin male and female adults comparing control male Drosophila melanogaster (MDM) versus male D sechellia (MDS) and comparing control female Drosophila melanogaster (FDM) versus female D sechellia (FDS). Goal was to determine why D sechellia is tolerant to octanoïc acid, the major toxic compound of Morinda citrifolia fruit
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of anterior ovarioles (germaria and round previtellogenic egg chambers) of w1118 virgin females of Drosophila melanogaster 5 to 8 days post eclosion. Anterior ovarioles were dissected from w1118 virgin females 5 to 8 days post eclosion. Three independent biological replicates were prepared for each day. Total RNA was isolated from the samples and used for the generation of multiplexed stranded PolyA+ libraries. External RNA controls were added to ovarian polyA+ RNA during library preparation. 75bp single end libraries were sequenced by Illumina Hiseq 2000.
Project description:Intralocus sexual conflict, where males and females have different fitness optima for the same trait, has been suggested to potentially be resolved by genomic imprinting, whereby expression in offspring is altered according to parent-of-origin. However, this idea has not yet been empirically tested. Here, we designed an experimental evolution protocol in Drosophila melanogaster which enabled us to look for imprinting effects on the X-chromosome. We enforced father-to-son transmission of the X-chromosome for many generations, and compared fitness and gene expression levels between control males, males with a control X-chromosome that had undergone one generation of father-son transmission (CDX), and males with an X-chromosome that had undergone many generations of father-son transmission (MLX). Although fitness differences were consistent with lowered fitness of males with a paternally inherited X-chromosome, expression differences suggested that this was due to deleterious maternal effects rather than imprinting. We conclude that imprinting is unlikely to resolve intralocus sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster.
Project description:We used microarrays to investigate the transcriptome of 6 days old male flies exposed to either 15 or 25 C development at either constant or fluctuating temperatures. Further, we investigated gene expression at benign (20C) and high (35C) temperatures With global climate change temperature means and variability are expected to increase. Thus, exposures to elevated temperatures are expected to become an increasing challenge for terrestrial ectotherm populations. While evolutionary adaptation seems to be constrained or proceed at an insufficient pace, many populations are expected to rely on phenotypic plasticity (thermal acclimation) for coping with the predicted changes. However, the effects of fluctuating temperature on the molecular mechanisms and the implications for heat tolerance are not well understood. To understand and predict consequences of climate change it is important to investigate how different components of the thermal environment, including fluctuating thermal conditions, contribute to changes in thermal acclimation. In this study we investigated the impact of mean and diurnal fluctuation of temperature on heat tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster and on the underlying molecular mechanisms in adult male flies. Flies from two constant and two ecologically relevant fluctuating temperature regimes were tested for their critical thermal maxima (CTmax) and associated global gene expression profiles at benign and thermally stressful conditions. Both temperature parameters contributed independently to the thermal acclimation, with regard to heat tolerance as well as the global gene expression profile. Although the independent transcriptional effects caused by fluctuations were relatively small, they are likely to be essential for our understanding of thermal adaptation. Thus, high temperature acclimation ability might not be measured correctly and might even be underestimated at constant temperatures. Our data suggests that the particular mechanisms affected by thermal fluctuations are related to phototransduction and environmental sensing. Thus genes and pathways involved in those processes are likely to be of major importance in a future warmer and more fluctuating climate.
Project description:Study of genome-wide differential gene expression of adult Drosophila melanogaster prickle-prickle mutant brains compared to control animals.