An experimental test of the relationship between melanism and desiccation survival in insects

Rajpurohit, Subhash; Peterson, Larry J.; Orr, Andrew; Marlon, Anthony J.; Gibbs, Allen G.

doi:10.1101/012369

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“…Here, we observed a significant but shallow cline in desiccation tolerance at normal assay temperatures of 25˚C (Table S4). While body size may play a role in desiccation tolerance, the relationship between variation in body size and desiccation tolerance among D. melanogaster populations appears complex (Rajpurohit et al 2016b, unpublished).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal patterns of desiccation tolerance in natural populations ofDrosophila melanogaster

Rajpurohit

Gefen

Bergland

et al. 2016

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Water availability is a major environmental challenge to a variety of terrestrial 18 organisms. In insects, desiccation tolerance varies predictably over various spatial and temporal 19 scales and is an important physiological basis of fitness variation among natural populations. 20Here, we examine the dynamics of desiccation tolerance in North American populations of 21 Drosophila melanogaster using: 1) natural populations sampled across latitudes and seasons in 22 the eastern USA; 2) experimental evolution in the field in response to changing seasonal 23 environments; 3) a sequenced panel of inbred lines (DGRP) to perform genome wide 24 associations and examine whether SNPs/genes associated with variation in desiccation tolerance 25 exhibit patterns of clinal and/or seasonal enrichment in pooled sequencing of populations. In 26 natural populations we observed a shallow cline in desiccation tolerance, for which tolerance 27 exhibited a positive association with latitude; the steepness of this cline increased with 28 decreasing culture temperature, demonstrating a significant degree of thermal plasticity. No 29 differences in desiccation tolerance were observed between spring and autumn collections from 30 three mid-to-northern latitude populations, or as a function of experimental evolution to 31 seasonality. Similarly, water loss rates did not vary significantly among latitudinal, seasonal or 32 experimental evolution populations. However, changes in metabolic rates during prolonged 33 exposure to dry conditions indicate increased tolerance in higher latitude populations. Genome 34 wide association studies identified thirty-six SNPs in twenty-eight genes associated with sex-35 averaged drought tolerance. Among North American populations, genes associated with drought 36 tolerance do not show increased signatures of spatially varying selection relative to the rest of the 37 genome, whereas among Australian populations they do.38 39 40Insects exploit and inhabit a wide range of habitats on planet earth which range from hot 42 deserts to cold arctic regions. In many of these environments presence of water is scarce and 43 desiccation is a major threat to many terrestrial organisms living there. Insects are particularly 44 most vulnerable to water related challenges, because of their small size and thus large surface 45 area to volume ratio. (Gibbs & Rajpurohit 2010). Environmental stresses such as desiccation are 46 highly variable among these natural habitats, and often vary predictably with such features as 47 latitude, altitude, and season. Patterns of phenotypic and genetic variation distributed along these 48

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%