Insulin-insensitivity of male genitalia maintains reproductive success in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: For most arthropod species, male genital size is relatively implastic in response to variation in developmental nutrition, such that the genitals in large well-fed males are similar in size to those in small poorly-fed males. In Drosophila melanogaster, reduced nutritional plasticity of the male genitalia is a consequence of low insulin sensitivity through a tissue-specific reduction in the expression of FOXO, a negative growth regulator . Despite an understanding of the proximate developmental mechanisms regulating organ size, the ultimate evolutionary mechanisms that may have led to reduced FOXO expression in the genitalia have not been fully elucidated. Here we show that restoring FOXO activity in the developing genitalia reduces the male genital size and decreases various aspects of ma

SUBMITTER: Dreyer AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6548725 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature