Evidence that natural selection maintains genetic variation for sleep in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Drosophila melanogaster often shows correlations between latitude and phenotypic or genetic variation on different continents, which suggests local adaptation with respect to a heterogeneous environment. Previous phenotypic analyses of latitudinal clines have investigated mainly physiological, morphological, or life-history traits. Here, we studied latitudinal variation in sleep in D. melanogaster populations from North and Central America. In parallel, we used RNA-seq to identify interpopulation gene expression differences.

Results

We found that in D. melanogaster the average nighttime sleep bout duration exhibits a latitudinal cline such that sleep bouts of equatorial populations are roughly twice as long as those of temperate populations. Interestingly, this pa

SUBMITTER: Svetec N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4374177 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature