Investigating the role of Osiris genes in Drosophila sechellia larval resistance to a host plant toxin.

ABSTRACT: The underlying genetic basis of adaptive phenotypic changes is generally poorly understood, yet a growing number of case studies are beginning to shed light on important questions about the molecular nature and pleiotropy of such changes. We use Drosophila sechellia, a dietary specialist fruit fly that evolved to specialize on a single toxic host plant, Morinda citrifolia, as a model for adaptive phenotypic change and seek to determine the genetic basis of traits associated with host specialization in this species. The fruit of M. citrifolia is toxic to other drosophilids, primarily due to high levels of the defense chemical octanoic acid (OA), yet D. sechellia has evolved resistance to OA. Our prior work identified three Osiris family genes that reside i

SUBMITTER: Lanno SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6392368 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature