Genetic and Developmental Analysis of Abdominal Pigmentation Differences Across Species in the Drosophila Dunni Subgroup

Abstract

Abdominal pigmentation pattern varies dramatically among the species of the Drosophila dunni subgroup across the islands of the Caribbean. Previously, we developed a quantitative measure of abdominal pigmentation to assess phenotypic variation within and between species of this group. In this paper, we use this quantitative measure in an interspecific genetic analysis to decipher the underlying genetic basis of pigmentation differences between one of the lightest and the darkest species in the group. Our analysis shows that pigmentation expression in different areas of the abdomen is under separate genetic control. For these different abdominal regions, we detected a wide range of genetic effects, including X-linked, autosomal additive, near single-gene dominant, and sex-specific effects. Combining these genetic results with our earlier phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, we present a simple conceptual model to explain how change in the control of expression of pigmentation has evolved throughout the D. dunni subgroup.

Pigmentation and behavior: potential association through pleiotropic genes in <i>Drosophila</i>

“…Pigmentation divergence in these species within short period of time suggests that pigmentation evolves relatively fast in some species. Short time diversification in abdominal pigmentation pattern is also well described in D. dunni and D. cardini subgroups (Hollocher et al, 2000a(Hollocher et al, , 2000bBrisson et al, 2006) and in D. montium subgroup (Ohnishi and Watanabe, 1985).…”

Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting the Difference in Pigmentation BetweenDrosophila yakubaandD. santomea

“…Hollocher et al (2000b) studied two Caribbean species in the D. cardini group having extremely different pigmentation patterns: D. arawakana (a light-colored sexually dimorphic species) and D. nigrodunni (the darkest sexually monomorphic species of the D. dunni subgroup). Using quantitative measures of abdominal pigmentation in F 1 hybrids and backcross flies, the authors conclude that, at least for the posterior segment of the abdomen (Hollocher et al 2000a, Figure 2, ''area 3''), which is roughly equivalent to the area scored in our analysis, there are paternal and maternal effects, with no particular effect of the X chromosome.…”

Abdominal Pigmentation Variation in Drosophila Polymorpha: Geographic Variation in the Trait, and Underlying Phylogeography

“…The variation is displayed among species groups (Garcia-Bellido 1983), between closely related species (Hollocher et al 2000a), between sexes within a species (Kopp et al 2000), and geographically within a species (Heed 1963;Lee 1963;Robertson et al 1977;Ohnishi 1985). Recent studies of abdominal pigmentation in the genus have approached this phenotype from a variety of angles, including analyses of phenotypic plasticity (David et al 1990;Gibert et al 1998Gibert et al , 2000, the evolutionary developmental basis of intra-and interspecific differences (Kopp et al 2000;Wittkopp et al 2002aWittkopp et al , 2002b, a phylogenetic and speciation context of trait evolution (Hollocher et al 2000a(Hollocher et al , 2000b, and traditional quantitative trait loci approaches (Llopart et al 2002;Kopp et al 2003;Wittkopp et al 2003a). Despite this growing literature (for recent reviews, see True 2003;Wittkopp et al 2003b), few studies have provided significant insight into what function, if any, this trait plays in the genus.…”