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Souto-Maior C, Serrano Negron YL, Harbison ST. Nonlinear expression patterns and multiple shifts in gene network interactions underlie robust phenotypic change in Drosophila melanogaster selected for night sleep duration. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011389. [PMID: 37561813 PMCID: PMC10443883 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
All but the simplest phenotypes are believed to result from interactions between two or more genes forming complex networks of gene regulation. Sleep is a complex trait known to depend on the system of feedback loops of the circadian clock, and on many other genes; however, the main components regulating the phenotype and how they interact remain an unsolved puzzle. Genomic and transcriptomic data may well provide part of the answer, but a full account requires a suitable quantitative framework. Here we conducted an artificial selection experiment for sleep duration with RNA-seq data acquired each generation. The phenotypic results are robust across replicates and previous experiments, and the transcription data provides a high-resolution, time-course data set for the evolution of sleep-related gene expression. In addition to a Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model analysis of differential expression that accounts for experimental replicates we develop a flexible Gaussian Process model that estimates interactions between genes. 145 gene pairs are found to have interactions that are different from controls. Our method appears to be not only more specific than standard correlation metrics but also more sensitive, finding correlations not significant by other methods. Statistical predictions were compared to experimental data from public databases on gene interactions. Mutations of candidate genes implicated by our results affected night sleep, and gene expression profiles largely met predicted gene-gene interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caetano Souto-Maior
- Laboratory of Systems Genetics, Systems Biology Center, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Yazmin L. Serrano Negron
- Laboratory of Systems Genetics, Systems Biology Center, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Susan T. Harbison
- Laboratory of Systems Genetics, Systems Biology Center, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
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2
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Rand MD, Tennessen JM, Mackay TFC, Anholt RRH. Perspectives on the Drosophila melanogaster Model for Advances in Toxicological Science. Curr Protoc 2023; 3:e870. [PMID: 37639638 PMCID: PMC10463236 DOI: 10.1002/cpz1.870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
The use of Drosophila melanogaster for studies of toxicology has grown considerably in the last decade. The Drosophila model has long been appreciated as a versatile and powerful model for developmental biology and genetics because of its ease of handling, short life cycle, low cost of maintenance, molecular genetic accessibility, and availability of a wide range of publicly available strains and data resources. These features, together with recent unique developments in genomics and metabolomics, make the fly model especially relevant and timely for the development of new approach methodologies and movements toward precision toxicology. Here, we offer a perspective on how flies can be leveraged to identify risk factors relevant to environmental exposures and human health. First, we review and discuss fundamental toxicologic principles for experimental design with Drosophila. Next, we describe quantitative and systems genetics approaches to resolve the genetic architecture and candidate pathways controlling susceptibility to toxicants. Finally, we summarize the current state and future promise of the emerging field of Drosophila metabolomics for elaborating toxic mechanisms. © 2023 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D. Rand
- Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
| | | | - Trudy F. C. Mackay
- Center for Human Genetics and Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, 114 Gregor Mendel Circle, Greenwood, South Carolina 29646, USA
| | - Robert R. H. Anholt
- Center for Human Genetics and Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, 114 Gregor Mendel Circle, Greenwood, South Carolina 29646, USA
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Genetic basis of variation in cocaine and methamphetamine consumption in outbred populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2104131118. [PMID: 34074789 PMCID: PMC8201854 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2104131118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
We used Drosophila melanogaster to map the genetic basis of naturally occurring variation in voluntary consumption of cocaine and methamphetamine. We derived an outbred advanced intercross population (AIP) from 37 sequenced inbred wild-derived lines of the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP), which are maximally genetically divergent, have minimal residual heterozygosity, are not segregating for common inversions, and are not infected with Wolbachia pipientis We assessed consumption of sucrose, methamphetamine-supplemented sucrose, and cocaine-supplemented sucrose and found considerable phenotypic variation for consumption of both drugs, in both sexes. We performed whole-genome sequencing and extreme quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping on the top 10% of consumers for each replicate, sex, and condition and an equal number of randomly selected flies. We evaluated changes in allele frequencies among high consumers and control flies and identified 3,033 variants significantly (P < 1.9 × 10-8) associated with increased consumption, located in or near 1,962 genes. Many of these genes are associated with nervous system development and function, and 77 belong to a known gene-gene interaction subnetwork. We assessed the effects of RNA interference (RNAi) on drug consumption for 22 candidate genes; 17 had a significant effect in at least one sex. We constructed allele-specific AIPs that were homozygous for alternative candidate alleles for 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and measured average consumption for each population; 9 SNPs had significant effects in at least one sex. The genetic basis of voluntary drug consumption in Drosophila is polygenic and implicates genes with human orthologs and associated variants with sex- and drug-specific effects.
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4
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Wallace MA, Coffman KA, Gilbert C, Ravindran S, Albery GF, Abbott J, Argyridou E, Bellosta P, Betancourt AJ, Colinet H, Eric K, Glaser-Schmitt A, Grath S, Jelic M, Kankare M, Kozeretska I, Loeschcke V, Montchamp-Moreau C, Ometto L, Onder BS, Orengo DJ, Parsch J, Pascual M, Patenkovic A, Puerma E, Ritchie MG, Rota-Stabelli O, Schou MF, Serga SV, Stamenkovic-Radak M, Tanaskovic M, Veselinovic MS, Vieira J, Vieira CP, Kapun M, Flatt T, González J, Staubach F, Obbard DJ. The discovery, distribution, and diversity of DNA viruses associated with Drosophila melanogaster in Europe. Virus Evol 2021; 7:veab031. [PMID: 34408913 PMCID: PMC8363768 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veab031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Drosophila melanogaster is an important model for antiviral immunity in arthropods, but very few DNA viruses have been described from the family Drosophilidae. This deficiency limits our opportunity to use natural host-pathogen combinations in experimental studies, and may bias our understanding of the Drosophila virome. Here, we report fourteen DNA viruses detected in a metagenomic analysis of 6668 pool-sequenced Drosophila, sampled from forty-seven European locations between 2014 and 2016. These include three new nudiviruses, a new and divergent entomopoxvirus, a virus related to Leptopilina boulardi filamentous virus, and a virus related to Musca domestica salivary gland hypertrophy virus. We also find an endogenous genomic copy of galbut virus, a double-stranded RNA partitivirus, segregating at very low frequency. Remarkably, we find that Drosophila Vesanto virus, a small DNA virus previously described as a bidnavirus, may be composed of up to twelve segments and thus represent a new lineage of segmented DNA viruses. Two of the DNA viruses, Drosophila Kallithea nudivirus and Drosophila Vesanto virus are relatively common, found in 2 per cent or more of wild flies. The others are rare, with many likely to be represented by a single infected fly. We find that virus prevalence in Europe reflects the prevalence seen in publicly available datasets, with Drosophila Kallithea nudivirus and Drosophila Vesanto virus the only ones commonly detectable in public data from wild-caught flies and large population cages, and the other viruses being rare or absent. These analyses suggest that DNA viruses are at lower prevalence than RNA viruses in D.melanogaster, and may be less likely to persist in laboratory cultures. Our findings go some way to redressing an earlier bias toward RNA virus studies in Drosophila, and lay the foundation needed to harness the power of Drosophila as a model system for the study of DNA viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan A Wallace
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Ashworth Laboratories, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
| | - Kelsey A Coffman
- Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Clément Gilbert
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Sanjana Ravindran
- Ashworth Laboratories, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
| | - Gregory F Albery
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Jessica Abbott
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund 223 62, Sweden
| | - Eliza Argyridou
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany
| | - Paola Bellosta
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology, CIBIO University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, Trento 38123, Italy
- Department of Medicine & Endocrinology, NYU Langone Medical Center, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Andrea J Betancourt
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK
| | - Hervé Colinet
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- UMR CNRS 6553 ECOBIO, Université de Rennes1, Rennes, France
| | - Katarina Eric
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Institute for Biological Research “Sinisa Stankovic”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Amanda Glaser-Schmitt
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany
| | - Sonja Grath
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany
| | - Mihailo Jelic
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Maaria Kankare
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Iryna Kozeretska
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, 16 Shevchenko Avenue, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine
| | - Volker Loeschcke
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biology, Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, Aarhus C DK-8000, Denmark
| | - Catherine Montchamp-Moreau
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Lino Ometto
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy
| | - Banu Sebnem Onder
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Dorcas J Orengo
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - John Parsch
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany
| | - Marta Pascual
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Aleksandra Patenkovic
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Institute for Biological Research “Sinisa Stankovic”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Eva Puerma
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Michael G Ritchie
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Centre for Biological Diversity, St Andrews University, St Andrews HY15 4SS, UK
| | - Omar Rota-Stabelli
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Research and Innovation Center, Fondazione E. Mach, San Michele all’Adige (TN) 38010, Italy
- Centre Agriculture Food Environment, University of Trento, San Michele all’Adige (TN) 38010, Italy
| | - Mads Fristrup Schou
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund 223 62, Sweden
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Svitlana V Serga
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, 16 Shevchenko Avenue, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine
- Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 64 Volodymyrska str, Kyiv 01601, Ukraine
| | - Marina Stamenkovic-Radak
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Marija Tanaskovic
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Institute for Biological Research “Sinisa Stankovic”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Marija Savic Veselinovic
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Jorge Vieira
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, i3S, Porto, Portugal
| | - Cristina P Vieira
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, i3S, Porto, Portugal
| | - Martin Kapun
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Division of Cell & Developmental Biology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Thomas Flatt
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg CH-1700, Switzerland
| | - Josefa González
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Fabian Staubach
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79104, Germany
| | - Darren J Obbard
- The European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU)
- Ashworth Laboratories, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
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5
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Souto-Maior C, Serrano Negron YL, Harbison ST. Natural selection on sleep duration in Drosophila melanogaster. Sci Rep 2020; 10:20652. [PMID: 33244154 PMCID: PMC7691507 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77680-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Sleep is ubiquitous across animal species, but why it persists is not well understood. Here we observe natural selection act on Drosophila sleep by relaxing bi-directional artificial selection for extreme sleep duration for 62 generations. When artificial selection was suspended, sleep increased in populations previously selected for short sleep. Likewise, sleep decreased in populations previously selected for long sleep when artificial selection was relaxed. We measured the corresponding changes in the allele frequencies of genomic variants responding to artificial selection. The allele frequencies of these variants reversed course in response to relaxed selection, and for short sleepers, the changes exceeded allele frequency changes that would be expected under random genetic drift. These observations suggest that the variants are causal polymorphisms for sleep duration responding to natural selection pressure. These polymorphisms may therefore pinpoint the most important regions of the genome maintaining variation in sleep duration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caetano Souto-Maior
- Laboratory of Systems Genetics, Systems Biology Center, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Yazmin L Serrano Negron
- Laboratory of Systems Genetics, Systems Biology Center, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Susan T Harbison
- Laboratory of Systems Genetics, Systems Biology Center, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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6
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Behavioral and Transcriptional Response to Selection for Olfactory Behavior in Drosophila. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2020; 10:1283-1296. [PMID: 32024668 PMCID: PMC7144070 DOI: 10.1534/g3.120.401117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The detection, discrimination, and behavioral responses to chemical cues in the environment can have marked effects on organismal survival and reproduction, eliciting attractive or aversive behavior. To gain insight into mechanisms mediating this hedonic valence, we applied thirty generations of divergent artificial selection for Drosophila melanogaster olfactory behavior. We independently selected for positive and negative behavioral responses to two ecologically relevant chemical compounds: 2,3-butanedione and cyclohexanone. We also tested the correlated responses to selection by testing behavioral responses to other odorants and life history traits. Measurements of behavioral responses of the selected lines and unselected controls to additional odorants showed that the mechanisms underlying responses to these odorants are, in some cases, differentially affected by selection regime and generalization of the response to other odorants was only detected in the 2,3-butanedione selection lines. Food consumption and lifespan varied with selection regime and, at times, sex. An analysis of gene expression of both selection regimes identified multiple differentially expressed genes. New genes and genes previously identified in mediating olfactory behavior were identified. In particular, we found functional enrichment of several gene ontology terms, including cell-cell adhesion and sulfur compound metabolic process, the latter including genes belonging to the glutathione S-transferase family. These findings highlight a potential role for glutathione S-transferases in the evolution of hedonic valence to ecologically relevant volatile compounds and set the stage for a detailed investigation into mechanisms by which these genes mediate attraction and aversion.
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7
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The Drosophila Post-mating Response: Gene Expression and Behavioral Changes Reveal Perdurance and Variation in Cross-Tissue Interactions. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2020; 10:967-983. [PMID: 31907222 PMCID: PMC7056969 DOI: 10.1534/g3.119.400963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Examining cross-tissue interactions is important for understanding physiology and homeostasis. In animals, the female gonad produces signaling molecules that act distally. We examine gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster female head tissues in 1) virgins without a germline compared to virgins with a germline, 2) post-mated females with and without a germline compared to virgins, and 3) post-mated females mated to males with and without a germline compared to virgins. In virgins, the absence of a female germline results in expression changes in genes with known roles in nutrient homeostasis. At one- and three-day(s) post-mating, genes that change expression are enriched with those that function in metabolic pathways, in all conditions. We systematically examine female post-mating impacts on sleep, food preference and re-mating, in the strains and time points used for gene expression analyses and compare to published studies. We show that post-mating, gene expression changes vary by strain, prompting us to examine variation in female re-mating. We perform a genome-wide association study that identifies several DNA polymorphisms, including four in/near Wnt signaling pathway genes. Together, these data reveal how gene expression and behavior in females are influenced by cross-tissue interactions, by examining the impact of mating, fertility, and genotype.
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8
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Brown EB, Slocumb ME, Szuperak M, Kerbs A, Gibbs AG, Kayser MS, Keene AC. Starvation resistance is associated with developmentally specified changes in sleep, feeding and metabolic rate. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:jeb.191049. [PMID: 30606795 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.191049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Food shortage represents a primary challenge to survival, and animals have adapted diverse developmental, physiological and behavioral strategies to survive when food becomes unavailable. Starvation resistance is strongly influenced by ecological and evolutionary history, yet the genetic basis for the evolution of starvation resistance remains poorly understood. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster provides a powerful model for leveraging experimental evolution to investigate traits associated with starvation resistance. While control populations only live a few days without food, selection for starvation resistance results in populations that can survive weeks. We have previously shown that selection for starvation resistance results in increased sleep and reduced feeding in adult flies. Here, we investigate the ontogeny of starvation resistance-associated behavioral and metabolic phenotypes in these experimentally selected flies. We found that selection for starvation resistance resulted in delayed development and a reduction in metabolic rate in larvae that persisted into adulthood, suggesting that these traits may allow for the accumulation of energy stores and an increase in body size within these selected populations. In addition, we found that larval sleep was largely unaffected by starvation selection and that feeding increased during the late larval stages, suggesting that experimental evolution for starvation resistance produces developmentally specified changes in behavioral regulation. Together, these findings reveal a critical role for development in the evolution of starvation resistance and indicate that selection can selectively influence behavior during defined developmental time points.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth B Brown
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Melissa E Slocumb
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Milan Szuperak
- Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Arianna Kerbs
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Allen G Gibbs
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA
| | - Matthew S Kayser
- Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Alex C Keene
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
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9
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Hsu SK, Jakšić AM, Nolte V, Barghi N, Mallard F, Otte KA, Schlötterer C. A 24 h Age Difference Causes Twice as Much Gene Expression Divergence as 100 Generations of Adaptation to a Novel Environment. Genes (Basel) 2019; 10:E89. [PMID: 30696109 PMCID: PMC6410183 DOI: 10.3390/genes10020089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2019] [Revised: 01/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2019] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Gene expression profiling is one of the most reliable high-throughput phenotyping methods, allowing researchers to quantify the transcript abundance of expressed genes. Because many biotic and abiotic factors influence gene expression, it is recommended to control them as tightly as possible. Here, we show that a 24 h age difference of Drosophilasimulans females that were subjected to RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) five and six days after eclosure resulted in more than 2000 differentially expressed genes. This is twice the number of genes that changed expression during 100 generations of evolution in a novel hot laboratory environment. Importantly, most of the genes differing in expression due to age introduce false positives or negatives if an adaptive gene expression analysis is not controlled for age. Our results indicate that tightly controlled experimental conditions, including precise developmental staging, are needed for reliable gene expression analyses, in particular in an evolutionary framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng-Kai Hsu
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Ana Marija Jakšić
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Viola Nolte
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Neda Barghi
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
| | - François Mallard
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Kathrin A Otte
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
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10
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Selection for long and short sleep duration in Drosophila melanogaster reveals the complex genetic network underlying natural variation in sleep. PLoS Genet 2017; 13:e1007098. [PMID: 29240764 PMCID: PMC5730107 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Why do some individuals need more sleep than others? Forward mutagenesis screens in flies using engineered mutations have established a clear genetic component to sleep duration, revealing mutants that convey very long or short sleep. Whether such extreme long or short sleep could exist in natural populations was unknown. We applied artificial selection for high and low night sleep duration to an outbred population of Drosophila melanogaster for 13 generations. At the end of the selection procedure, night sleep duration diverged by 9.97 hours in the long and short sleeper populations, and 24-hour sleep was reduced to 3.3 hours in the short sleepers. Neither long nor short sleeper lifespan differed appreciably from controls, suggesting little physiological consequences to being an extreme long or short sleeper. Whole genome sequence data from seven generations of selection revealed several hundred thousand changes in allele frequencies at polymorphic loci across the genome. Combining the data from long and short sleeper populations across generations in a logistic regression implicated 126 polymorphisms in 80 candidate genes, and we confirmed three of these genes and a larger genomic region with mutant and chromosomal deficiency tests, respectively. Many of these genes could be connected in a single network based on previously known physical and genetic interactions. Candidate genes have known roles in several classic, highly conserved developmental and signaling pathways—EGFR, Wnt, Hippo, and MAPK. The involvement of highly pleiotropic pathway genes suggests that sleep duration in natural populations can be influenced by a wide variety of biological processes, which may be why the purpose of sleep has been so elusive. One of the biggest mysteries in biology is the need to sleep. Sleep duration has an underlying genetic basis, suggesting that very long and short sleep times could be bred for experimentally. How far can sleep duration be driven up or down? Here we achieved extremely long and short night sleep duration by subjecting a wild-derived population of Drosophila melanogaster to an experimental breeding program. At the end of the breeding program, long sleepers averaged 9.97 hours more nightly sleep than short sleepers. We analyzed whole-genome sequences from seven generations of the experimental breeding to identify allele frequencies that diverged between long and short sleepers, and verified genes and genomic regions with mutation and deficiency testing. These alleles map to classic developmental and signaling pathways, implicating many diverse processes that potentially affect sleep duration.
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Brown EB, Patterson C, Pancoast R, Rollmann SM. Artificial selection for odor-guided behavior in Drosophila reveals changes in food consumption. BMC Genomics 2017; 18:867. [PMID: 29132294 PMCID: PMC5683340 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-4233-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 10/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The olfactory system enables organisms to detect chemical cues in the environment and can signal the availability of food or the presence of a predator. Appropriate behavioral responses to these chemical cues are therefore important for organismal survival and can influence traits such as organismal life span and food consumption. However, understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying odor-guided behavior, correlated responses in other traits, and how these constrain or promote their evolution, remain an important challenge. Here, we performed artificial selection for attractive and aversive behavioral responses to four chemical compounds, two aromatics (4-ethylguaiacol and 4-methylphenol) and two esters (methyl hexanoate and ethyl acetate), for thirty generations. Results Artificial selection for odor-guided behavior revealed symmetrical responses to selection for each of the four chemical compounds. We then investigated whether selection for odor-guided behavior resulted in correlated responses in life history traits and/or food consumption. We found changes in food consumption upon selection for behavioral responses to aromatics. In many cases, lines selected for increased attraction to aromatics showed an increase in food consumption. We then performed RNA sequencing of lines selected for responses to 4-ethylguaiacol to identify candidate genes associated with odor-guided behavior and its impact on food consumption. We identified 91 genes that were differentially expressed among lines, many of which were associated with metabolic processes. RNAi-mediated knockdown of select candidate genes further supports their role in odor-guided behavior and/or food consumption. Conclusions This study identifies novel genes underlying variation in odor-guided behavior and further elucidates the genetic mechanisms underlying the interrelationship between olfaction and feeding. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-017-4233-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth B Brown
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0006, USA
| | - Cody Patterson
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0006, USA
| | - Rayanne Pancoast
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0006, USA.,Department of Biology, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, 45207, USA
| | - Stephanie M Rollmann
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0006, USA.
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The road less traveled: from genotype to phenotype in flies and humans. Mamm Genome 2017; 29:5-23. [DOI: 10.1007/s00335-017-9722-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 10/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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Fochler S, Morozova TV, Davis MR, Gearhart AW, Huang W, Mackay TFC, Anholt RRH. Genetics of alcohol consumption in Drosophila melanogaster. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2017. [PMID: 28627812 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Individual variation in alcohol consumption in human populations is determined by genetic, environmental, social and cultural factors. In contrast to humans, genetic contributions to complex behavioral phenotypes can be readily dissected in Drosophila, where both the genetic background and environment can be controlled and behaviors quantified through simple high-throughput assays. Here, we measured voluntary consumption of ethanol in ∼3000 individuals of each sex from an advanced intercross population derived from 37 lines of the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel. Extreme quantitative trait loci mapping identified 385 differentially segregating allelic variants located in or near 291 genes at P < 10-8 . The effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with voluntary ethanol consumption are sex-specific, as found for other alcohol-related phenotypes. To assess causality, we used RNA interference knockdown or P{MiET1} mutants and their corresponding controls and functionally validated 86% of candidate genes in at least one sex. We constructed a genetic network comprised of 23 genes along with a separate trio and a pair of connected genes. Gene ontology analyses showed enrichment of developmental genes, including development of the nervous system. Furthermore, a network of human orthologs showed enrichment for signal transduction processes, protein metabolism and developmental processes, including nervous system development. Our results show that the genetic architecture that underlies variation in voluntary ethanol consumption is sexually dimorphic and partially overlaps with genetic factors that control variation in feeding behavior and alcohol sensitivity. This integrative genetic architecture is rooted in evolutionarily conserved features that can be extrapolated to human genetic interaction networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Fochler
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.,School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
| | - T V Morozova
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - M R Davis
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - A W Gearhart
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - W Huang
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - T F C Mackay
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - R R H Anholt
- W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Program in Genetics, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
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Zhou S, Luoma SE, St. Armour GE, Thakkar E, Mackay TFC, Anholt RRH. A Drosophila model for toxicogenomics: Genetic variation in susceptibility to heavy metal exposure. PLoS Genet 2017; 13:e1006907. [PMID: 28732062 PMCID: PMC5544243 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Revised: 08/04/2017] [Accepted: 07/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The genetic factors that give rise to variation in susceptibility to environmental toxins remain largely unexplored. Studies on genetic variation in susceptibility to environmental toxins are challenging in human populations, due to the variety of clinical symptoms and difficulty in determining which symptoms causally result from toxic exposure; uncontrolled environments, often with exposure to multiple toxicants; and difficulty in relating phenotypic effect size to toxic dose, especially when symptoms become manifest with a substantial time lag. Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful model that enables genome-wide studies for the identification of allelic variants that contribute to variation in susceptibility to environmental toxins, since the genetic background, environmental rearing conditions and toxic exposure can be precisely controlled. Here, we used extreme QTL mapping in an outbred population derived from the D. melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel to identify alleles associated with resistance to lead and/or cadmium, two ubiquitous environmental toxins that present serious health risks. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with variation in resistance to both heavy metals as well as SNPs associated with resistance specific to each of them. The effects of these SNPs were largely sex-specific. We applied mutational and RNAi analyses to 33 candidate genes and functionally validated 28 of them. We constructed networks of candidate genes as blueprints for orthologous networks of human genes. The latter not only provided functional contexts for known human targets of heavy metal toxicity, but also implicated novel candidate susceptibility genes. These studies validate Drosophila as a translational toxicogenomics gene discovery system. Although physiological effects of environmental toxins are well documented, we know little about the genetic factors that determine individual variation in susceptibility to toxins. Such information is difficult to obtain in human populations due to heterogeneity in genetic background and environmental exposure, and the diversity of symptoms and time lag with which they appear after toxic exposure. Here, we show that the fruit fly, Drosophila, can serve as a powerful genetic model system to elucidate the genetic underpinnings that contribute to individual variation in resistance to toxicity, using lead and cadmium exposure as an experimental paradigm. We identified genes that harbor genetic variants that contribute to individual variation in resistance to heavy metal exposure. Furthermore, we constructed genetic networks on which we could superimpose human counterparts of Drosophila genes. We were able to place human genes previously implicated in heavy metal toxicity in biological context and identify novel targets for heavy metal toxicity. Thus, we demonstrate that based on evolutionary conservation of fundamental biological processes, we can use Drosophila as a powerful translational model for toxicogenomics studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shanshan Zhou
- Program in Genetics, W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Sarah E. Luoma
- Program in Genetics, W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Genevieve E. St. Armour
- Program in Genetics, W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Esha Thakkar
- Enloe Magnet High School, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Trudy F. C. Mackay
- Program in Genetics, W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Robert R. H. Anholt
- Program in Genetics, W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, and Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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