Mechanisms of naturally evolved ethanol resistance in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: The decaying fruit in which Drosophila melanogaster feed and breed can contain ethanol in concentrations as high as 6-7%. In this cosmopolitan species, populations from temperate regions are consistently more resistant to ethanol poisoning than populations from the tropics, but little is known about the physiological basis of this difference. I show that when exposed to low levels of ethanol vapor, flies from a tropical African population accumulated 2-3 times more internal ethanol than flies from a European population, giving evidence that faster ethanol catabolism by European flies contributes to the resistance difference. Using lines differing only in the origin of their third chromosome, however, I show that faster ethanol elimination cannot fully explain the resistance difference, bec

SUBMITTER: Fry JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4229365 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature