Accuracy of fruit-fly eclosion rhythms evolves by strengthening circadian gating rather than developmental fine-tuning.

ABSTRACT: Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) eclose from their pupae mainly around dawn. The timing of eclosion is thought to confer adaptive benefits to the organisms and thus shows remarkable accuracy. However, it is not clear what factors are involved in the evolution of such accuracy in natural populations. In this study, we examined the relative contributions of gating of eclosion by the circadian clock versus clock-independent developmental rates and light-induced responses in the eclosion phenotype exhibited by fly populations that have evolved greater accuracy in eclosion rhythms compared to controls. We compared variation in timing of transitions between early developmental stages (pupariation and pigmentation), overall development time under constant light conditions - where circ

SUBMITTER: Varma V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6737981 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature