Transcriptional regulation of metabolism associated with the increased desiccation resistance of the cactophilic Drosophila mojavensis.

ABSTRACT: 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 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 expecte

SUBMITTER: Matzkin LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2728865 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature