Artificial selection for odor-guided behavior in Drosophila reveals changes in food consumption.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The olfactory system enables organisms to detect chemical cues in the environment and can signal the availability of food or the presence of a predator. Appropriate behavioral responses to these chemical cues are therefore important for organismal survival and can influence traits such as organismal life span and food consumption. However, understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying odor-guided behavior, correlated responses in other traits, and how these constrain or promote their evolution, remain an important challenge. Here, we performed artificial selection for attractive and aversive behavioral responses to four chemical compounds, two aromatics (4-ethylguaiacol and 4-methylphenol) and two esters (methyl hexanoate and ethyl acetate), for thirty generations.

SUBMITTER: Brown EB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5683340 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature