Transcriptional variation associated with cactus host plant adaptation in Drosophila mettleri populations

ABSTRACT: Although the importance of host plant chemistry in plant-insect interactions is widely accepted, the genetic basis of adaptation to host plants is poorly understood. Here, we investigate transcriptional changes associated with a host plant shift in Drosophila mettleri. While D. mettleri is distributed mainly throughout the Sonoran Desert where it specializes on columnar cacti (Carnegiea gigantea and Pachycereus pringleii), a population on Santa Catalina Island has shifted to coastal prickly pear cactus (Opuntia littoralis). We compared gene expression of larvae from the Sonoran Desert and Santa Catalina Island when reared on saguaro (C. gigantea), coastal prickly pear, and laboratory food. Consistent with expectations based on the complexity and toxicity of cactus relative to laboratory fo

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila mettleri

SUBMITTER: Jeremy Bono 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-71110 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress