Genetic Decoupling of Thermal Hardiness across Metamorphosis in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: As organisms age the environment fluctuates, exerting differential selection across ontogeny. In particular, highly seasonal environments expose life stages to often drastically different thermal environments. This developmental variation is particularly striking in organisms with complex life cycles, wherein life history stages also exhibit distinct morphologies, physiologies, and behaviors. Genes acting pleiotropically on thermal responses may produce genetic correlations across ontogeny, constraining the independent evolution of each life stage to their respective thermal environments. To investigate whether developmental genetic correlations constrain the evolution thermal hardiness of the fly Drosophila melanogaster, we applied quantitative genetic analyses to cold hardiness measured

SUBMITTER: Freda PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5886339 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature