Dataset Information

The molecular basis of host adaptation in cactophilic Drosophila: molecular evolution of a glutathione S-transferase gene (GstD1) in Drosophila mojavensis.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila mojavensis is a cactophilic fly endemic to the northwestern deserts of North America. This species includes four genetically isolated cactus host races each individually specializing on the necrotic tissues of a different cactus species. The necrosis of each cactus species provides the resident D. mojavensis populations with a distinct chemical environment. A previous investigation of the role of transcriptional variation in the adaptation of D. mojavensis to its hosts produced a set of candidate loci that are differentially expressed in response to host shifts, and among them was glutathione S-transferase D1 (GstD1). In both D. melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae, GstD1 has been implicated in the resistance of these species to the insecticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). The pattern of sequence variation of the GstD1 locus from all four D. mojavensis populations, D. arizonae (sister species), and D. navojoa (outgroup) has been examined. The data suggest that in two populations of D. mojavensis GstD1 has gone through a period of adaptive amino acid evolution. Further analyses indicate that of the seven amino acid fixations that occurred in the D. mojavensis lineage, two of them occur in the active site pocket, potentially having a significant effect on substrate specificity and in the adaptation to alternative cactus hosts.

SUBMITTER: Matzkin LM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2248371 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The molecular basis of host adaptation in cactophilic Drosophila: molecular evolution of a glutathione S-transferase gene (GstD1) in Drosophila mojavensis.

Matzkin Luciano M LM

Genetics 20080201 2

Drosophila mojavensis is a cactophilic fly endemic to the northwestern deserts of North America. This species includes four genetically isolated cactus host races each individually specializing on the necrotic tissues of a different cactus species. The necrosis of each cactus species provides the resident D. mojavensis populations with a distinct chemical environment. A previous investigation of the role of transcriptional variation in the adaptation of D. mojavensis to its hosts produced a set ...[more]

PMID: 18245335

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Project description:In Drosophila, adaptation to xeric environments presents many challenges, greatest among them the maintenance of water balance. Drosophila mojavensis, a cactophilic species from the deserts of North America, is one of the most desiccation-resistant in the genus, surviving low humidity primarily by reducing its metabolic rate. Genetic control of reduced metabolic rate, however, has yet to be elucidated. We utilized the recently sequenced genome of D. mojavensis to create an oligonucleotide microarray in order to pursue the identities of the genes involved in metabolic regulation during desiccation. We observed large differences in gene expression between male and female D. mojavensis as well as both quantitative and qualitative sex differences in their ability to survive xeric conditions. As expected, genes associated with metabolic regulation and carbohydrate metabolism were differentially regulated between stress treatments. Most importantly, we identified four points in central metabolism (Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, transaldolase, alcohol dehydrogenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase) that indicate the potential mechanisms controlling metabolic rate reduction associated with desiccation resistance. Furthermore, a large number of genes associated with vision pathways also were differentially expressed between stress treatments, especially in females, that may underlie the initial detection of stressful environments and trigger subsequent metabolic changes. Dataset from Transcriptional regulation of metabolism associated with the increased desiccation resistance of the cactophilic Drosophila mojavensis Matzkin,LM and Markow, MA, Genetics. The stock used in this study (15081-1352.22) was the same one utilized for the recently published D. mojavensis genome sequence. Flies were reared using standard Tucson Drosophila Stock Center banana/Opuntia media. The experimental design consisted of two mating status treatments (virgin and mated) and two stress treatments (desiccation and food) for both sexes. There were two replicates per mating status/stress/sex treatment (16 total hybridizations)

Dataset Information

The molecular basis of host adaptation in cactophilic Drosophila: molecular evolution of a glutathione S-transferase gene (GstD1) in Drosophila mojavensis.

Publications

The molecular basis of host adaptation in cactophilic Drosophila: molecular evolution of a glutathione S-transferase gene (GstD1) in Drosophila mojavensis.

Similar Datasets

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