Local adaptation for body color in Drosophila americana: commentary on Wittkopp et al.

Clusella‐Trullas, Susana; Terblanche, John S.

doi:10.1038/hdy.2010.141

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…However, a study on longitudinal cline of pigmentation variation in a different species, D. americana, did not find any association between pigmentation and desiccation resistance (Wittkopp et al, 2011;Clusella-Trullas and Terblanche, 2011). Also, such association was not detected among different strains of D. yakuba (Matute and Harris, 2013).…”

Section: Pigmentation Variation In Drosophilamentioning

confidence: 96%

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

Takahashi

2013

Genes Genet. Syst.

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The molecular basis of pigmentation variation within and among Drosophila species is largely attributed to genes in melanin biosynthesis pathway, which involves dopamine metabolism. Most of the genetic changes underlying pigmentation variations reported to date are changes at the expression levels of the structural genes in the pathway. Within D. melanogaster, changes in cis-regulatory regions of a gene, ebony, are responsible for the naturally occurring variation of the body pigmentation intensity. This gene is also known to be expressed in glia, and many visual and behavioral abnormalities of its mutants have been reported. This implies that the gene has pleiotropic functions in the nervous systems. In this review, current knowledge on pigmentation variation and melanin biosynthesis pathway are summarized, with some focus on pleiotropic features of ebony and other genes in the pathway. A potential association between pigmentation and behavior through such pleiotropic genes is discussed in light of cis-regulatory structure and pleiotropic mutations.

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Section: Pigmentation Variation In Drosophilamentioning

confidence: 96%

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

Takahashi

2013

Genes Genet. Syst.

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“…Differences in abdominal pigmentation are generally assumed to result from adaptation, but the selection pressures responsible for the evolution of a particular pattern in a particular species remain unclear. Potential selection pressures proposed for divergent abdominal pigmentation include sexual selection resulting from mate choice as well as environmental factors that differ across gradients of altitude, latitude, temperature, humidity, and UV radiation (Capy et al 1988; Kopp et al 2000; True 2003; Wittkopp et al 2011; Clusella-Trullas and Terblanche 2011; Matute and Harris 2013; Bastide et al 2014). …”

Section: Abdominal Pigmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Genetic Basis of Pigmentation Differences Within and Between Drosophila Species

Massey

Wittkopp

2016

Current Topics in Developmental Biology

106

108

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In Drosophila, as well as in many other plants and animals, pigmentation is highly variable both within and between species. This variability, combined with powerful genetic and transgenic tools as well as knowledge of how pigment patterns are formed biochemically and developmentally, have made Drosophila pigmentation a premier system for investigating the genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for phenotypic evolution. In this chapter, we review and synthesize findings from a rapidly growing body of case studies examining the genetic basis of pigmentation differences in the abdomen, thorax, wings, and pupal cases within and between Drosophila species. A core set of genes, including genes required for pigment synthesis (e.g., yellow, ebony, tan, Dat) as well as developmental regulators of these genes (e.g., bab1, bab2, omb, Dll, and wg) emerge as the primary sources of this variation, with most genes having been shown to contribute to pigmentation differences both within and between species. In cases where specific genetic changes contributing to pigmentation divergence were identified in these genes, the changes were always located in noncoding sequences and affected cis-regulatory activity. We conclude this chapter by discussing these and other lessons learned from evolutionary genetic studies of Drosophila pigmentation and identify topics we think should be the focus of future work with this model system.

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“…For example, Drosophila americana from cooler environments are darker (Wittkopp et al, 2011), fitting a thermal melanism hypothesis (Clusella-Trullas and Terblanche, 2011) where darker individuals in cooler environments heat up faster than lighter-coloured insects. Melanism also forms an important innate immune defence, and darker individuals of some species are better able to resist infection (Dubovskiy et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water loss in tree weta (Hemideina): adaptation to the montane environment and a test of the melanisation–desiccation resistance hypothesis

King

Sinclair

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Montane insects are at a higher risk of desiccation than their lowland counterparts and are expected to have evolved reduced water loss. Hemideina spp. (tree weta; Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae) have both lowland (Hemideina femorata, Hemideina crassidens and Hemideina thoracica) and montane (Hemideina maori and Hemideina ricta) species. H. maori has both melanic and yellow morphs. We use these weta to test two hypotheses: that montane insects lose water more slowly than lowland species, and that cuticular water loss rates are lower in darker insects than lighter morphs, because of incorporation of melanin in the cuticle. We used flow-through respirometry to compare water loss rates among Hemideina species and found that montane weta have reduced cuticular water loss by 45%, reduced respiratory water loss by 55% and reduced the molar ratio of V H2O : V CO2 by 64% compared with lowland species. Within H. maori, cuticular water loss was reduced by 46% when compared with yellow morphs. Removal of cuticular hydrocarbons significantly increased total water loss in both melanic and yellow morphs, highlighting the role that cuticular hydrocarbons play in limiting water loss; however, the dark morph still lost water more slowly after removal of cuticular hydrocarbons (57% less), supporting the melanisation-desiccation resistance hypothesis.

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Local adaptation for body color in Drosophila americana: commentary on Wittkopp et al.

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

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

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

The Genetic Basis of Pigmentation Differences Within and Between Drosophila Species

Water loss in tree weta (Hemideina): adaptation to the montane environment and a test of the melanisation–desiccation resistance hypothesis

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