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1.
G3 (Bethesda) ; 11(7)2021 07 14.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33871609

ABSTRACT

Drosophila melanogaster egg production, a proxy for fecundity, is an extensively studied life-history trait with a strong genetic basis. As eggs develop into larvae and adults, space and resource constraints can put pressure on the developing offspring, leading to a decrease in viability, body size, and lifespan. Our goal was to map the genetic basis of offspring number and weight under the restriction of a standard laboratory vial. We screened 143 lines from the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel for offspring numbers and weights to create an "offspring index" that captured the number vs weight tradeoff. We found 18 genes containing 30 variants associated with variation in the offspring index. Validation of hid, Sox21b, CG8312, and mub candidate genes using gene disruption mutants demonstrated a role in adult stage viability, while mutations in Ih and Rbp increased offspring number and increased weight, respectively. The polygenic basis of offspring number and weight, with many variants of small effect, as well as the involvement of genes with varied functional roles, support the notion of Fisher's "infinitesimal model" for this life-history trait.


Subject(s)
Drosophila melanogaster , Genetic Variation , Animals , Drosophila melanogaster/genetics , Multifactorial Inheritance , Drosophila , Body Weight/genetics
2.
J Exp Biol ; 224(Pt 2)2021 01 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33188065

ABSTRACT

Negative geotaxis (climbing) performance is a useful metric for quantifying Drosophila health. Manual methods to quantify climbing performance are tedious and often biased, while many available computational methods have challenging hardware or software requirements. We present an alternative: FreeClimber. This open source, Python-based platform subtracts a video's static background to improve detection for flies moving across heterogeneous backgrounds. FreeClimber calculates a cohort's velocity as the slope of the most linear portion of a mean vertical position versus time curve. It can run from a graphical user interface for optimization or a command line interface for high-throughput and automated batch processing, improving accessibility for users with different expertise. FreeClimber outputs calculated slopes, spot locations for follow-up analyses (e.g. tracking), and several visualizations and plots. We demonstrate FreeClimber's utility in a longitudinal study for endurance exercise performance in Drosophila mitonuclear genotypes using six distinct mitochondrial haplotypes paired with a common D. melanogaster nuclear background.


Subject(s)
Behavior, Animal , Drosophila melanogaster , Software , Animals , Drosophila melanogaster/genetics
3.
Dev Biol ; 450(1): 34-46, 2019 06 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30851270

ABSTRACT

Many organisms both undergo dramatic morphological changes during post-embryonic development and also regenerate lost structures, but the roles of epigenetic regulators in such processes are only beginning to be understood. In the present study, the functions of two histone modifiers were examined during metamorphosis and larval limb regeneration in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. Polycomb (Pc), a member of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), and Enhancer of zeste (E(z)), a member of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), were silenced in larvae using RNA interference. In the absence of Pc, the head appendages of adults transformed into a leg-like morphology, and the legs and wings assumed a metathoracic identity, indicating that Pc acts to specify proper segmental identity. Similarly, silencing of E(z) led to homeotic transformation of legs and wings. Additional defects were also observed in limb patterning as well as eye morphogenesis, indicating that PcG proteins play critical roles in imaginal precursor cells. In addition, larval legs and antennae failed to re-differentiate when either Pc or E(z) was knocked down, indicating that histone modification is necessary for proper blastema growth and differentiation. These findings indicate that PcG proteins play extensive roles in postembryonic plasticity of imaginal precursor cells.


Subject(s)
Hindlimb/physiology , Insect Proteins/biosynthesis , Morphogenesis , Polycomb Repressive Complex 1/biosynthesis , Polycomb Repressive Complex 2/biosynthesis , Regeneration , Tribolium/metabolism , Animals , Insect Proteins/genetics , Larva/genetics , Larva/metabolism , Polycomb Repressive Complex 1/genetics , Polycomb Repressive Complex 2/genetics , Tribolium/genetics
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