1. Pervasive gene expression responses to a fluctuating diet in Drosophila melanogaster: The importance of measuring multiple traits to decouple potential mediators of life span and reproduction.
- Author
-
Zandveld, Jelle, Heuvel, Joost, Mulder, Maarten, Brakefield, Paul M., Kirkwood, Thomas B. L., Shanley, Daryl P., and Zwaan, Bas J.
- Subjects
- *
GENE expression , *INSECT genetics , *DROSOPHILA melanogaster genetics , *PHENOTYPIC plasticity , *LIFE history theory , *GENETIC transcription , *INSECTS - Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity is an important concept in life-history evolution, and most organisms, including Drosophila melanogaster, show a plastic life-history response to diet. However, little is known about how these life-history responses are mediated. In this study, we compared adult female flies fed an alternating diet (yoyo flies) with flies fed a constant low (CL) or high (CH) diet and tested how whole genome expression was affected by these diet regimes and how the transcriptional responses related to different life-history traits. We showed that flies were able to respond quickly to diet fluctuations throughout life span by drastically changing their transcription. Importantly, by measuring the response of multiple life-history traits we were able to decouple groups of genes associated with life span or reproduction, life-history traits that often covary with a diet change. A coexpression network analysis uncovered which genes underpin the separate and shared regulation of these life-history traits. Our study provides essential insights to help unravel the genetic architecture mediating life-history responses to diet, and it shows that the flies' whole genome transcription response is highly plastic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF