Population and sex differences in Drosophila melanogaster brain gene expression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Changes in gene regulation are thought to be crucial for the adaptation of organisms to their environment. Transcriptome analyses can be used to identify candidate genes for ecological adaptation, but can be complicated by variation in gene expression between tissues, sexes, or individuals. Here we use high-throughput RNA sequencing of a single Drosophila melanogaster tissue to detect brain-specific differences in gene expression between the sexes and between two populations, one from the ancestral species range in sub-Saharan Africa and one from the recently colonized species range in Europe.

Results

Relatively few genes (<100) displayed sexually dimorphic expression in the brain, but there was an enrichment of sex-biased genes, especially male-biased genes, on t

SUBMITTER: Catalan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3527002 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature