The Foraging Gene, a New Environmental Adaptation Player Involved in Xenobiotic Detoxification

Abstract

Foraging is vital for animals, especially for food. In Drosophila melanogaster, this behavior is controlled by the foraging gene (for) which encodes a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG). In wild populations of Drosophila, rover individuals that exhibit long foraging trails and sitter individuals that exhibit short ones coexist and are characterized by high and low levels of PKG activity, respectively. We, therefore, postulated that rover flies are more exposed to environmental stresses, including xenobiotics contamination, than sitter flies. We then tested whether these flies differed in their ability to cope with xenobiotics by exposing them to insecticides from different chemical families. We performed toxicological tests and measured the activity and expression levels of different classes of detoxification enzymes. We have shown that a link exists between the for gene and certain cytochrome P450-dependent activities and that the expression of the insecticide-metabolizing cytochrome P450 Cyp6a2 is controlled by the for gene. An unsuspected regulatory pathway of P450s expression involving the for gene in Drosophila is revealed and we demonstrate its involvement in adaptation to chemicals in the environment. This work can serve as a basis for reconsidering adaptation to xenobiotics in light of the behavior of species, including humans.

A genome-scale metabolic model of Drosophila melanogaster for integrative analysis of brain diseases

“…As highlighted before, xenobiotics are natural or synthetic life-threatening compounds that must be handled by animal cells via sequestration or metabolic degradation. Modification of the xenobiotics by phase I enzymes (e.g., cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and esterases) occurs in the first step of their metabolic detoxification [60, 61, 78]. In addition to the pathway information, we examined the compartment distribution in the model.…”

A new metabolic model ofDrosophila melanogasterand the integrative analysis of Parkinson’s disease

“…As highlighted before, xenobiotics are natural or synthetic life-threatening compounds that must be handled by animal cells via sequestration or metabolic degradation. Modification of the xenobiotics by phase I enzymes (e.g., cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and esterases) occurs in the first step of their metabolic detoxification (Misra et al, 2011;Trinder et al, 2017;Amichot & Tarès, 2021). In addition to the pathway information, we examined the compartment distribution in the model.…”