scholarly journals Mannitol ingestion causes concentration-dependent, sex-specific mortality in adults of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Fiocca ◽  
Meghan Barrett ◽  
Edward A. Waddell ◽  
Cheyenne McNair ◽  
Sean O’Donnell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Reproductive Costs ◽  
Female Mortality ◽  
Male Mortality ◽  
Single Sex ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Specific Mortality ◽  
Males And Females

AbstractMannitol, a sugar alcohol used in commercial food products, induced sex-specific mortality in the fruit flyDrosophila melanogasterwhen ingested at a single concentration (1M), and female mortality was greater than male mortality. We hypothesized that sex differences in energy needs, related to reproductive costs, contribute to increased mortality in females compared to males. To test for the effects of reproductive costs, we compared longevity to 21 days of actively mating and non-mating flies fed various concentrations of mannitol. We also asked whether mannitol-induced mortality was concentration-dependent for both males and females, and if mannitol’s sex-specific effects were consistent across concentrations. Females and males both showed concentration-dependent increases in mortality, but female mortality was consistently higher at all concentrations above 0.75M. Fly longevity to 21 days decreased further for both sexes when housed in mixed sex vials (as compared to single sex vials), suggesting the increased energetic demands of reproduction for both sexes may increase ingestion of mannitol. Mannitol fed to larvae did not alter emerging adult sex ratios, suggesting that sex-specific mortality due to mannitol occurs only in adults.

scholarly journals The Drosophila melanogaster Levodopa-Induced Depression Model Exhibits Negative Geotaxis Deficits and Differential Gene Expression in Males and Females

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiago C. Moulin ◽  
Federico Ferro ◽  
Angela Hoyer ◽  
Pierre Cheung ◽  
Michael J. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Psychosocial Functioning ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Mating Frequency ◽  
Negative Geotaxis ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Difference

More than 320 million people live with depression in the world, a disorder that severely limits psychosocial functioning and diminishes quality of life. The prevalence of major depression is almost two times higher in women than in men. However, the molecular mechanisms of its sex-specific pathophysiology are still poorly understood. Drosophila melanogaster is an established model for neurobiological research of depression-like states, as well as for the study of molecular and genetic sex differences in the brain. Here, we investigated sex-specific effects on forced-climbing locomotion (negative geotaxis) and gene expression of a fly model of depression-like phenotypes induced by levodopa administration, which was previously shown to impair normal food intake, mating frequency, and serotonin concentration. We observed that both males and females show deficits in the forced-climbing paradigm; however, modulated by distinct gene expression patterns after levodopa administration. Our results suggest that Drosophila models can be a valuable tool for identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying the difference of depressive disorder prevalence between men and women.

scholarly journals Sex, mating and repeatability of Drosophila melanogaster longevity

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 210273
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Hoffman ◽  
Sophie K. Dudeck ◽  
Heather K. Patterson ◽  
Steven N. Austad
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Genetic Background ◽  
Significant Variation ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Reproductive Costs ◽  
Strong Component ◽  
Costs Of Reproduction ◽  
Fitness Components ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Laboratory Changes

Costs of reproduction are seemingly ubiquitous across the animal kingdom, and these reproductive costs are generally defined by increased reproduction leading to decreases in other fitness components, often longevity. However, some recent reports question whether reproductive costs exist in every species or population. To provide insight on this issue, we sought to determine the extent to which genetic variation might play a role in one type of reproductive cost—survival—using Drosophila melanogaster . We found, surprisingly, no costs of reproduction nor sex differences in longevity across all 15 genetic backgrounds in two cohorts. We did find significant variation within some genotypes, though these were much smaller than expected. We also observed that small laboratory changes lead to significant changes in longevity within genotypes, suggesting that longevity repeatability in flies may be difficult. We finally compared our results to previously published longevities and found that reproducibility is similar to what we saw in our own laboratory, further suggesting that stochasticity is a strong component of fruit fly lifespan. Overall, our results suggest that there are still large gaps in our knowledge about the effects of sex and mating, as well as genetic background and laboratory conditions on lifespan reproducibility.

scholarly journals Inbreeding removes sex differences in lifespan in a population of Drosophila melanogaster

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 20160337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Carazo ◽  
Jared Green ◽  
Irem Sepil ◽  
Tommaso Pizzari ◽  
Stuart Wigby
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Deleterious Alleles ◽  
The Social ◽  
Specific Mortality ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Female Lifespan

Sex differences in ageing rates and lifespan are common in nature, and an enduring puzzle for evolutionary biology. One possibility is that sex-specific mortality rates may result from recessive deleterious alleles in ‘unguarded’ heterogametic X or Z sex chromosomes (the unguarded X hypothesis). Empirical evidence for this is, however, limited. Here, we test a fundamental prediction of the unguarded X hypothesis in Drosophila melanogaster , namely that inbreeding shortens lifespan more in females (the homogametic sex in Drosophila ) than in males. To test for additional sex-specific social effects, we studied the lifespan of males and females kept in isolation, in related same-sex groups, and in unrelated same-sex groups. As expected, outbred females outlived outbred males and inbreeding shortened lifespan. However, inbreeding-mediated reductions in lifespan were stronger for females, such that lifespan was similar in inbred females and males. We also show that the social environment, independent of inbreeding, affected male, but not female lifespan. In conjunction with recent studies, the present results suggest that asymmetric inheritance mechanisms may play an important role in the evolution of sex-specific lifespan and that social effects must be considered explicitly when studying these fundamental patterns.

Age-Specific Properties of Spontaneous Mutations Affecting Mortality in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D Pletcher ◽  
David Houle ◽  
James W Curtsinger
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Spontaneous Mutations ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Viable Mechanism ◽  
Mutational Variance

Abstract An analysis of the effects of spontaneous mutations affecting age-specific mortality was conducted using 29 lines of Drosophila melanogaster that had accumulated spontaneous mutations for 19 generations. Divergence among the lines was used to estimate the mutational variance for weekly mortality rates and the covariance between weekly mortality rates at different ages. Significant mutational variance was observed in both males and females early in life (up to ~30 days of age). Mutational variance was not significantly different from zero for mortality rates at older ages. Mutational correlations between ages separated by 1 or 2 wk were generally positive, but they declined monotonically with increasing separation such that mutational effects on early-age mortality were uncorrelated with effects at later ages. Analyses of individual lines revealed several instances of mutation-induced changes in mortality over a limited range of ages. Significant age-specific effects of mutations were identified in early and middle ages, but surprisingly, mortality rates at older ages were essentially unaffected by the accumulation procedure. Our results provide strong evidence for the existence of a class of polygenic mutations that affect mortality rates on an age-specific basis. The patterns of mutational effects measured here relate directly to recently published estimates of standing genetic variance for mortality in Drosophila, and they support mutation accumulation as a viable mechanism for the evolution of senescence.

scholarly journals Hox dosage contributes to flight appendage morphology in Drosophila

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Paul ◽  
Guillaume Giraud ◽  
Katrin Domsch ◽  
Marilyne Duffraisse ◽  
Frédéric Marmigère ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Differential Expression ◽  
Hox Genes ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Wing Morphology ◽  
Hox Proteins ◽  
Spatial Expression ◽  
Flying Insects

AbstractFlying insects have invaded all the aerial space on Earth and this astonishing radiation could not have been possible without a remarkable morphological diversification of their flight appendages. Here, we show that characteristic spatial expression profiles and levels of the Hox genes Antennapedia (Antp) and Ultrabithorax (Ubx) underlie the formation of two different flight organs in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We further demonstrate that flight appendage morphology is dependent on specific Hox doses. Interestingly, we find that wing morphology from evolutionary distant four-winged insect species is also associated with a differential expression of Antp and Ubx. We propose that variation in the spatial expression profile and dosage of Hox proteins is a major determinant of flight appendage diversification in Drosophila and possibly in other insect species during evolution.

scholarly journals Quantitative investigation reveals distinct phases in Drosophila sleep

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochan Xu ◽  
Wei Yang ◽  
Binghui Tian ◽  
Xiuwen Sui ◽  
Weilai Chi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Infrared Camera ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Genetic Dissection ◽  
Power Law Distribution ◽  
Quantitative Investigation ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
Set Up

AbstractThe fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been used as a model organism for the molecular and genetic dissection of sleeping behaviors. However, most previous studies were based on qualitative or semi-quantitative characterizations. Here we quantified sleep in flies. We set up an assay to continuously track the activity of flies using infrared camera, which monitored the movement of tens of flies simultaneously with high spatial and temporal resolution. We obtained accurate statistics regarding the rest and sleep patterns of single flies. Analysis of our data has revealed a general pattern of rest and sleep: the rest statistics obeyed a power law distribution and the sleep statistics obeyed an exponential distribution. Thus, a resting fly would start to move again with a probability that decreased with the time it has rested, whereas a sleeping fly would wake up with a probability independent of how long it had slept. Resting transits to sleeping at time scales of minutes. Our method allows quantitative investigations of resting and sleeping behaviors and our results provide insights for mechanisms of falling into and waking up from sleep.

scholarly journals The trithorax Group Genemoira Encodes a Brahma-Associated Putative Chromatin-Remodeling Factor in Drosophila melanogaster

1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1159-1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline A. Crosby ◽  
Chaya Miller ◽  
, Tamar Alon ◽  
Kellie L. Watson ◽  
C. Peter Verrijzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Chromatin Remodeling ◽  
Leucine Zipper ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Protein Product ◽  
Homeotic Genes ◽  
Trithorax Group ◽  
Functional Relationships

ABSTRACT The genes of the trithorax group (trxG) inDrosophila melanogaster are required to maintain the pattern of homeotic gene expression that is established early in embryogenesis by the transient expression of the segmentation genes. The precise role of each of the diverse trxG members and the functional relationships among them are not well understood. Here, we report on the isolation of the trxG gene moira(mor) and its molecular characterization. morencodes a fruit fly homolog of the human and yeast chromatin-remodeling factors BAF170, BAF155, and SWI3. mor is widely expressed throughout development, and its 170-kDa protein product is present in many embryonic tissues. In vitro, MOR can bind to itself and it interacts with Brahma (BRM), an SWI2-SNF2 homolog, with which it is associated in embryonic nuclear extracts. The leucine zipper motif of MOR is likely to participate in self-oligomerization; the equally conserved SANT domain, for which no function is known, may be required for optimal binding to BRM. MOR thus joins BRM and Snf5-related 1 (SNR1), two known Drosophila SWI-SNF subunits that act as positive regulators of the homeotic genes. These observations provide a molecular explanation for the phenotypic and genetic relationships among several of the trxG genes by suggesting that they encode evolutionarily conserved components of a chromatin-remodeling complex.

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