Transcriptome analysis of Drosophila melanogaster laboratory strains of different geographical origin after long‐term laboratory maintenance

Abstract

Positive selection may be the main factor of the between‐population divergence in gene expression. Expression profiles of two Drosophila melanogaster laboratory strains of different geographical origin and long‐term laboratory maintenance were analyzed using microchip arrays encompassing probes for 18,500 transcripts. The Russian strain D18 and the North American strain Canton‐S were compared. A set of 223 known or putative genes demonstrated significant changes in expression levels between these strains. Differentially expressed genes (DEG) were enriched in response to DDT ( p = .0014), proteolysis ( p = 2.285E−5), transmembrane transport ( p = 1.03E−4), carbohydrate metabolic process ( p = .0317), protein homotetramerization ( p = .0444), and antibacterial humoral response ( p = 425E−4). The expression in subset of genes from different categories was verified by qRT‐PCR. Analysis of transcript abundance between Canton‐S and D18 strains allowed to select several genes to estimate their participation in latitude adaptation. Expression of selected genes was analyzed in five D. melanogaster lines of different geographic origins by qRT‐PCR, and we found two candidate genes that may be associated with latitude adaptation in adult flies— smp‐30 and Cda9 . Quite possible that several alleles of these genes may be important for insect survival in the environments of global warming. It is interesting that the number of genes involved in local adaptation demonstrates expression level appropriate to their geographical origin even after decades of laboratory maintenance.

The tardigrade Dsup protein enhances radioresistance in Drosophila melanogaster and acts as an unspecific repressor of transcription

“…Negative gravitaxis climbing test is among the most reproducible and simple assays for the determination of the physiological state in fruit flies. 29 , 30 We performed climbing tests with different parameters: in the first type of test, we estimated the number of flies that ran 10 cm in 10 s, in the second type of test, we estimated the number of flies that overcame 12 cm in 8 s. In the first type of test, Dsup -expressing lines #2–4 demonstrated the significant reduction of mean passing rate compared to the control line ( Figure 3 A), and with the complication of the test, the significant reduction of mean passing rate for all Dsup -expressing lines (#1–4) was registered ( Figures 3 B and S2 ). Thus, we observed the decrease in locomotor activity in Dsup -expressing lines that indicated changes in locomotor behavior in the presence of Dsup protein.…”

First transcriptome profiling of D. melanogaster after development in a deep underground low radiation background laboratory

“…The use of the complexly organized model organism D . melanogaster with well studied genetics of many traits [ 53 , 54 ] simplifies benchmarking.…”

Olfaction-Related Gene Expression in the Antennae of Female Mosquitoes From Common Aedes aegypti Laboratory Strains

“…In the case of the insect model organism, Drosophila melanogaster , 308 wildtype strains alone are maintained in the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center. Even though these strains are members of the same species, differences in important phenotypic characteristics such as locomotion, and differences in gene expression patterns in such important functional pathways such as metabolism and synaptic transmission exist between strains ( Colomb and Brembs, 2014 ; Zarubin et al, 2020 ). Ae.…”