Heat-hardening effects on mating success at high temperature in Drosophila melanogaster.

Reproduction is strongly influenced by environmental temperature in insects. At high temperature, mating success could be influenced not only by basal (non-inducible) thermotolerance but also by inducible plastic responses. Here, mating success at high temperature was tested in flies carrying contrasting genotypes of heat resistance in Drosophila melanogaster. The possible heat-hardening effect was tested. Mating success did not differ between heat-resistant and heat-sensitive genotypes when tested both at high (33 °C) and benign (25 °C) temperature, independently of the heat-hardening status. Importantly, heat-hardening pre-treatment increased in a 70% the number of matings at 33 °C in a mass-mating experiment. Further, mating latency at 33 °C was shorter with heat hardening than without it in single-pair assays Heat-hardening had previously been showed to improve short-term thermotolerance in many organisms including Drosophila, and the present results show that heat hardening also improve mating success at elevated temperature. Previous exposures to a mild heat stress improve short-term mating success as a plastic response of ecological relevance. Such heat-hardening effects on mating success should be relevant for predicting potential evolutionary responses to any possible current scenery of global warming, as well as in sterile insect release programs for pest control in elevated temperature environments.

Patterns of longevity and fecundity at two temperatures in a set of heat-selected recombinant inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster.

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) were mapped for longevity and fecundity at two temperatures, 20 and 30 °C, in two sets of recombinant inbred lines (RIL) highly differing in thermotolerance. Early fecundity (EF) and longevity showed a negative association between temperatures. For instance, longevity was higher and fecundity was lower in the RIL panel showing higher life span at 30 °C. One X-linked QTL (7B3-12E) co-localized for longevity and EF at 20 °C, with one QTL allele showing a positive additive effect on longevity and a negative effect on EF. The across-RIL genetic correlation between longevity and EF was not significant within each temperature, and most QTL that affect life span have no effect on EF at each temperature. EF and longevity can mostly be genetically uncoupled in the thermotolerance-divergent RIL within each temperature as opposed to between temperatures. QTL were mostly temperature specific, although some trait-specific QTL showed possible antagonistic effects between temperatures.

Heat-stress survival in the pre-adult stage of the life cycle in an intercontinental set of recombinant inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster.

In insects, pre-adult stages of the life cycle are exposed to variation in temperature that may differ from that in adults. However, the genetic basis for adaptation to environmental temperature could be similar between the pre-adult and the adult stages of the life cycle. Here, we tested quantitative trait loci (QTL) for heat-stress survival in larvae of Drosophila melanogaster, with and without a mild-heat-stress pre-treatment. Two sets of recombinant inbred lines derived from lines artificially selected for high and low levels of knockdown resistance to high temperature in young flies were used as the mapping population. There was no apparent increase in heat-shock survival between heat-pretreated and non-pretreated larvae. There was a positive correlation between the two experimental conditions of heat-shock survival (with and without a heat pre-treatment) except for males from one set of lines. Several QTL were identified involving all three major chromosomes. Most QTL for larval thermotolerance overlapped with thermotolerance QTL identified in previous studies for adults, indicating that heat-stress resistance is not genetically independent between life cycle stages because of either linkage or pleiotropy. The sign of the effects of some QTL alleles differed both between the sexes and between life stages.

X-linked QTL for knockdown resistance to high temperature in Drosophila melanogaster.

Knockdown Resistance to High Temperature (KRHT) is an adaptive trait of thermotolerance in insects. An interval mapping was performed on chromosome X of Drosophila melanogaster to search for quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting KRHT. A backcross population was obtained from two lines that dramatically differ for KRHT. Microsatellites were used as markers. Composite interval mapping identified a large-effect QTL in the region of band 10 where putative candidate genes map. To further test for this QTL a set of recombinant (but non-inbred) lines was obtained from backcrosses between the parental lines used for the interval mapping. Recombinant line analysis confirmed that one QTL is targeted by band 10. We identify and discuss candidate loci contained within our QTL region.

Altitudinal patterns for longevity, fecundity and senescence in Drosophila buzzatii.

We tested for variation in longevity, senescence rate and early fecundity of Drosophila buzzatii along an elevational transect in Argentina, using laboratory-reared flies in laboratory tests performed to avoid extrinsic mortality. At 25 degrees C, females from lowland populations lived longer and had a lower demographic rate of senescence than females from highland populations. Minimal instead of maximal temperature at the sites of origin of population best predicted this cline. A very different pattern was found at higher test temperature. At 29.5 degrees C, longevity of males increased with altitude of origin of population. No clinal trend was apparent for longevity of females at 29.5 degrees C. There was evidence for a trade-off between early fecundity and longevity at non-stressful temperature (25 degrees C) along the altitudinal gradient. This trait association is consistent with evolutionary theories of aging. Population-by-temperature and sex-by-temperature interactions indicate that senescence patterns are expressed in environment specific ways.