Dynamic changes in ejaculatory bulb size during Drosophila melanogaster aging and mating

Cohen, Allie B.; Wolfner, Mariana F.

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2018.04.005

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Two independent evolutionary gains of bond EB expression across the Drosophila genus and related species The EB in D. melanogaster is made of distinct parts, including a bulbar cavity devoid of cells that holds the ejaculate (Cohen and Wolfner, 2018). Expression of bond in the D. melanogaster EB is restricted to a specific epithelial region, which we named the semicircular wall epithelium (swe) (Figure 1A).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repression precedes independent evolutionary gains of a highly specific gene expression pattern

Wang

Cong

et al. 2021

Cell Reports

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repression precedes independent evolutionary gains of a highly specific gene expression pattern

Wang

Cong

et al. 2021

Cell Reports

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“…Hence even if the primary site of Sfp receipt is within the female reproductive tract in the abdomen, Sfps can cause many changes in other parts of the body by binding to receptors located in the nervous system including the brain 62 . Our knowledge of PMR phenotypes in males is limited, but biological processes known to be affected by mating are located within the abdomen, namely the replenishment of ejaculate components and morphological changes to the ejaculatory duct 31,33 . The low numbers of DE genes seen in the female abdomen and male head-thorax suggests there is lower activity of biological processes in those body-parts following mating, or a low requirement for active de novo gene transcription.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…over 24 h in D. melanogaster males 29–31 . Potentially associated with this, physiological changes to the ejaculatory duct have also been noted in mated D. melanogaster males 32,33 . Aside from these responses, there is some evidence from targeted gene expression studies that males invest in immune response molecules following mating, similarly to females 34 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Divergence in Transcriptional and Regulatory Responses to Mating in Male and Female Fruitflies

Fowler

Bradley

Moxon

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Mating induces extensive physiological, biochemical and behavioural changes in female animals of many taxa. In contrast, the overall phenotypic and transcriptomic consequences of mating for males, hence how they might differ from those of females, are poorly described. Post mating responses in each sex are rapidly initiated, predicting the existence of regulatory mechanisms in addition to transcriptional responses involving de novo gene expression. That post mating responses appear different for each sex also predicts that the genome-wide signatures of mating should show evidence of sex-specific specialisation. In this study, we used high resolution RNA sequencing to provide the first direct comparisons of the transcriptomic responses of male and female Drosophila to mating, and the first comparison of mating-responsive miRNAs in both sexes in any species. As predicted, the results revealed the existence of sex- and body part-specific mRNA and miRNA expression profiles. More genes were differentially expressed in the female head-thorax than the abdomen following mating, whereas the opposite was true in males. Indeed, the transcriptional profile of male head-thorax tissue was largely unaffected by mating, and no differentially expressed genes were detected at the most stringent significance threshold. A subset of ribosomal genes in females were differentially expressed in both body parts, but in opposite directions, consistent with the existence of body part-specific resource allocation switching. Novel, mating-responsive miRNAs in each sex were also identified, and a miRNA-mRNA interactions analysis revealed putative targets among mating-responsive genes. We show that the structure of genome-wide responses by each sex to mating is strongly divergent, and provide new insights into how shared genomes can achieve characteristic distinctiveness.

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“…1A, S1 ). The EB is made of distinct parts including a bulbar cavity devoid of cells which holds the ejaculate (27)( Fig. 1B ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repression precedes the stepwise evolution of a highly specific gene expression pattern

Wang

Cong

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Well-controlled gene expression is critical for the proper development and function of many traits. Highly-specific temporal and spatial expression patterns are often due to the overlapping activities of activator and repressor sequences that form cis-regulatory elements called enhancers. While many studies have shown that evolutionary changes in enhancers can result in novel traits, few studies illuminate how enhancers originate, how activator and repressor sequences interact during enhancer evolution, and the order in which they evolve. Here, we traced the evolutionary origin of a recently evolved enhancer that drives the expression of the fatty acyl-CoA elongase, bond, specifically in the semicircular wall epithelium (swe) of the Drosophila male ejaculatory bulb (EB). We show that this enhancer consists of two activator regions that drive bond expression in the entire EB and a repressor region that restricts expression specifically to the EB swe. Interestingly, the repressor region preceded the evolution of the two activator regions. The evolution of the first activator region, consisting of two putative Abdominal-B sites, did not drive expression in the EB due to the action of the repressor region. Expression of bond in the EB swe requires the evolution of the second activator region, which does not drive expression on its own, but synergizes with the first activator region and the repressor region to produce a highly-specific spatial expression pattern. Our results show that the origin and evolution of a novel enhancer require multiple steps and the evolution of repressor sequences can precede the evolution of activator sequences.

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Dynamic changes in ejaculatory bulb size during Drosophila melanogaster aging and mating

Cited by 11 publications

References 28 publications

Repression precedes independent evolutionary gains of a highly specific gene expression pattern

Repression precedes independent evolutionary gains of a highly specific gene expression pattern

Divergence in Transcriptional and Regulatory Responses to Mating in Male and Female Fruitflies

Repression precedes the stepwise evolution of a highly specific gene expression pattern

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