Article
Genetics & Heredity
J. Dylan Shropshire, Rachel Rosenberg, Seth R. Bordenstein
Summary: Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria transmitted maternally and often spread selfishly through arthropod populations via cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). The study found that cognate cifA;B from D. melanogaster and two other Drosophila-associated Wolbachia strains caused CI, while non-cognate cifA generally contributed to strong transgenic CI and interchangeable rescue, with cifB genetic divergence leading to weak or no transgenic CI. Additionally, a type 1 cifA was able to rescue CI caused by a genetically divergent type 2 cifA;B, suggesting unidirectional incompatibility.
Article
Biology
Saswati Saha, Lionel Spinelli, Jaime A. Castro Mondragon, Anais Kervadec, Michaela Lynott, Laurent Kremmer, Laurence Roder, Sallouha Krifa, Magali Torres, Christine Brun, Georg Vogler, Rolf Bodmer, Alexandre R. Colas, Karen Ocorr, Laurent Perrin
Summary: Studying the cardiac performance variations in Drosophila reveals genetic networks associated with natural variation of cardiac traits and identifies genes related to cardiac function variations. The findings in fruit flies can potentially accelerate the discovery of heart diseases in humans.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Maria-Eleni Parakatselaki, Chen-Tseh Zhu, David Rand, Emmanuel D. Ladoukakis
Summary: This article investigates the inheritance of mtDNA in fruit flies and reveals mtDNA heteroplasmy caused by NUMT interference. The study highlights the need to exclude the possibility of NUMT interference in mtDNA inheritance studies.
Article
Biology
Weihao Dou, Baofa Sun, Yunheng Miao, Dawei Huang, Jinhua Xiao
Summary: Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis reveals that Wolbachia significantly affects the germ cells in Drosophila, especially the germline stem cells, resulting in dysregulated expression of genes related to DNA compaction and influencing the histone-to-protamine transition in late-stage sperm development.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Wen Lu, Margot Lakonishok, Anna S. Serpinskaya, Vladimir Gelfand
Summary: Cytoplasmic dynein plays essential roles in Drosophila oocyte growth by actively moving microtubules within nurse cells and from nurse cells to the oocyte via the cytoplasmic bridges, and this movement can transport cytoplasmic particles to the oocyte.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Claire Burny, Viola Nolte, Marlies Dolezal, Christian Schloetterer
Summary: This study used a modified evolve and resequence (E&R) design to investigate polygenic adaptation in fruit flies, by exposing them to a high-temperature environment. The findings suggest that the X chromosome shows a stronger selection response than autosomes, possibly due to dominance effects, and that adaptive responses were more pronounced in a two-genotype experiment compared to classic E&R studies.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Claire Burny, Viola Nolte, Marlies Dolezal, Christian Schlotterer
Summary: The study utilized two inbred Drosophila melanogaster strains exposed to extreme heat for 20 generations, detecting strong and highly parallel selection responses in 10 evolved replicates. The X chromosome showed a more pronounced selection response, and overall, the median selection coefficient for all chromosomes was higher in the two-genotype experiment compared to classic E&R studies. The study suggests that using two random genomes with sufficient variation is well-suited for analyzing polygenic adaptation.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biology
Jianjian Zhao, Xuchen Zhang, Bohan Zhao, Wantong Hu, Tongxin Diao, Liyuan Wang, Yi Zhong, Qian Li
Summary: Animals have strategies to cope with proactive and retroactive interference when learning different tasks consecutively. In this study, researchers investigated the molecular mechanisms of proactive and retroactive interference in Drosophila. They found that proactive interference is more sensitive to the inter-task interval (ITI) and that manipulating the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 affects proactive interference but not retroactive interference or single learning tasks. These findings suggest that sequential learning of different tasks triggers distinct molecular mechanisms to tune proactive and retroactive interference.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Michal Polak, Jorge L. Hurtado-Gonzales, Joshua B. Benoit, Kassie J. Hooker, Frances Tyler
Summary: This study demonstrated the existence of positive genetic covariance between a male secondary sexual trait, such as ornament size, and competitive fertilization success. The findings suggest that indirect postcopulatory sexual selection may magnify net selection on ornamental trait expression under certain conditions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
David H. Mauki, Adeniyi C. Adeola, Said Ng'ang'a, Abdulfatai Tijjani, Ibikunle Mark Akanbi, Oscar J. Sanke, Abdussamad M. Abdussamad, Sunday C. Olaogun, Jebi Ibrahim, Philip M. Dawuda, Godwin F. Mangbon, Paul S. Gwakisa, Ting-Ting Yin, Min-Sheng Peng, Ya-Ping Zhang
Summary: This study analyzed the genetic diversity of cattle samples from Nigeria using both maternal and paternal DNA markers, revealing that Nigerian cattle are mainly clustered with African cattle and have a zebu haplogroup in terms of paternal analysis. There was no signal of maternal genetic structure in Nigerian cattle population, suggesting extensive genetic intermixing within the country.
Article
Zoology
Xin-Chao Liu, Zheng-Xi Li
Summary: The study revealed that the wMel strain exhibited fluctuation in trans-generational transmission, with a positive correlation between transmission rate and strain density. Immune genes Drsl5 and Spn38F were found to play a role in regulating the wMel density during trans-generational transmission.
JOURNAL OF INVERTEBRATE PATHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Katherine H. Shaw, Craig Dent, Travis K. Johnson, Alisha Anderson, Marien de Bruyne, Coral G. Warr
Summary: Research shows that olfactory behaviors in fruit flies are regulated by a large odorant receptor gene family, with variant alleles at the Or22 locus affecting the response properties of ab3A neurons and leading to changes in odorant preference and oviposition site preference in fruit flies.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Bashir Salim, Saeed Alasmari, Nouh Saad Mohamed, Mohamed-Khair A. Ahmed, Ryo Nakao, Olivier Hanotte
Summary: More than 400 million indigenous sheep are raised on the African continent, mainly for sustenance. The genetic relationships among these sheep populations are poorly understood. This study sequenced the mitochondrial DNA control region of Sudan desert sheep to understand their genetic variation and demographic history. The results showed a diversified and predominant haplogroup, with little genetic differentiation among the different breeds and crosses. The study provides insights into the early history of Sudan desert sheep and their crosses.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Manuel Rueda, Roberto Ariosa, Mauricio Moldes, Jordi Rambla
Summary: Beacon v2 is an API specification that defines a standard for federated discovery of genomic and phenotypic data. B2RI is a set of open-source software tools that allow quick setup of a local Beacon instance.
Article
Biology
Eric Wesley Wice, Julia Barbara Saltz
Summary: The position an individual holds in a social network is influenced by both direct and indirect social interactions. The genotype of individuals within a social group impacts their network positions, and studying how genetic effects shape social network positions is crucial for understanding social environment and evolution.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Rebecca E. Koch, Katherine L. Buchanan, Stefania Casagrande, Ondi Crino, Damian K. Dowling, Geoffrey E. Hill, Wendy R. Hood, Matthew McKenzie, Mylene M. Mariette, Daniel W. A. Noble, Alexandra Pavlova, Frank Seebacher, Paul Sunnucks, Eve Udino, Craig R. White, Karine Salin, Antoine Stier
Summary: The critical role that energy turnover plays in understanding variation in performance and fitness among individuals has long been recognized by biologists. While whole-organism metabolic studies have provided key insights into ecological and evolutionary processes, constraints at subcellular levels, such as within mitochondria, can also optimize metabolism. This exploration of mitochondrial aerobic metabolism's influence on organismal performance highlights important areas for future research in understanding ecological and evolutionary processes.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Arunas Radzvilavicius, Sean Layh, Matthew D. Hall, Damian K. Dowling, Iain G. Johnston
Summary: The interplay between nuclear and mitochondrial genes maintains mitochondrial haplotype diversity within populations, and selects for sex-independent segregation of mitochondrion-interacting genes and for paternal leakage. These effects of genetic linkage evolution can eliminate male-harming fitness effects of mtDNA mutational diversity.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Andrea Pozzi, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: The research examines the impact of pathogenic mitochondrial mutations on health and the mechanisms regulating the link between these mutations and their effects. The authors suggest that certain mitochondrial mutations may disrupt function of a set of mitochondrial-transcribed small RNAs, leading to disease by perturbing communication between mitochondria and nucleus.
Article
Biology
Shiqian Feng, Andrea Pozzi, Vaclav Stejskal, George Opit, Qianqian Yang, Renfu Shao, Damian K. Dowling, Zhihong Li
Summary: "Contrary to expectations, this study found that mt-genome fragmentation is not correlated with the increase in mt-genome rearrangements in a genus of booklice, Liposcelis. The researchers proposed that fragmentation of the mt-genome may be a consequence of recombination errors between mt-genome copies, which is linked to a heightened mutation rate in clades exhibiting mt-fragmentation. Furthermore, the study showed that species with fragmented mt-genomes diverge more rapidly, despite experiencing strong purifying selection."
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Andrea Pozzi, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: Mitochondrial sequence variants affect phenotypic function through interaction with the nuclear genome. This study reveals previously unknown interactions between nuclear and small mt-RNAs, which may play key roles in intergenomic communication.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biology
Tom M. Allison, Arunas L. Radzvilavicius, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: Most eukaryotes exhibit uniparental inheritance of mitochondria, but paternal inheritance is becoming more common in certain cases. This paternal inheritance may be caused by a failure of female or zygotic autophagy machinery to recognize divergent mitochondrial DNA. Recent theory suggests that under adaptive selection, paternal inheritance may evolve in certain populations.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Topi K. Lehtonen, Venkatesh Nagarajan-Radha, Damian K. Dowling, Bob B. M. Wong
Summary: This study examines dyadic interactions in a colour-polymorphic cichlid fish and finds that smaller individuals engage in more aggressive interactions. Interestingly, the interactions do not significantly differ between different colour morphs. Furthermore, automated data collection proves to be an accurate tool for measuring aggression.
BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Tara-Lyn Camilleri-Carter, Matthew D. W. Piper, Rebecca L. Robker, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: Intergenerational effects of parental nutrition on offspring phenotypes occur, but the interactions between parental diets and their impacts on offspring life history and physiology are not well understood. Studying fruit flies, we found complex non-cumulative interactions between matched and mismatched parental sucrose diets, which affected lifespan, fecundity, body mass, and triglyceride levels in parents and offspring.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Vinesh Naresh Shenoi, Martin Brengdahl, Jaime L. Grace, Bjorn Eriksson, Patrik Ryden, Urban Friberg
Summary: Research on fruit flies shows that paternal effects may be an underappreciated source of phenotypic variation, which can have a significant impact on lifespan variation within a population.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Antonino Malacrino, Martin I. Brengdahl, Christopher M. Kimber, Avani Mital, Vinesh N. Shenoi, Claudio Mirabello, Urban Friberg
Summary: A study found that the fruit fly brain transcriptome becomes desexualized with age, in line with the general prediction that individuals in low condition invest less in sexual traits.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Rebecca E. Koch, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: This study found that mitochondrial genotype has a significant effect on pre-copulatory mating success in male fruit flies. Specifically, one particular haplotype resulted in poorer performance. These findings suggest that mutations in mitochondrial DNA can affect pre-copulatory behaviors and their signaling.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Vinesh N. Shenoi, Avani Mital, Martin Brengdahl, Katie Abson, Gina Henderson, Melody Maxwell, David Berger, Urban Friberg
Summary: Evolutionary theory proposes that aging is caused by mutations that have either beneficial effects that later become deleterious (antagonistic pleiotropy) or only have deleterious effects at old age (mutation accumulation). This study examined the effects of spontaneous mutations on aging by accumulating mutations in fruit flies over multiple generations. The results suggest that most spontaneous mutations do not contribute to damage accumulation and aging.
Article
Ecology
Sean Layh, Venkatesh Nagarajan-Radha, Bernardo Lemos, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: Although traditionally believed to have little impact on sexually dimorphic traits, the Y chromosome has been shown to harbor variation affecting male fitness and influencing the expression of hundreds of genes. Studies have also revealed that this Y-linked variation may be influenced by environmental factors, suggesting that gene-by-environment interactions shape sexually dimorphic phenotypes. Our research on fruit flies demonstrates the effects of Y chromosome haplotypes on male locomotor activity, supporting the role of the Y chromosome in sexual conflict outcomes.
Article
Biology
Jack A. Brand, Winston K. W. Yee, Ian J. Aitkenhead, Jake M. Martin, Giovanni Polverino, Steven L. Chown, Bob B. M. Wong, Damian K. Dowling
Summary: Temperature is a crucial factor that affects organismal fitness and has significant ecological implications. The influence of temperature on behavioral variation among individuals and between sexes in ectotherms is still not well understood. This study investigates the effects of temperature on behavioral variation and metabolism in adult male and female Drosophila melanogaster. The results show that males are more responsive to temperature change in mean activity levels, but no sex differences were found in thermal metabolic plasticity. Higher temperatures increased variation in male locomotor activity, but not in females. Further research is needed to explore whether sex differences in behavioral variation in response to temperature change may lead to sex-specific vulnerabilities to a warming climate.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Martin Brengdahl, Christopher M. Kimber, Vinesh Naresh Shenoi, Miruna Dumea, Avani Mital, Urban Friberg
Summary: The evolution of aging requires mutations with late-life deleterious effects. Most mutations have age-specific effects, which are commonly harmful late in life. Mutations have a negative effect on juvenile performance, which strengthens the conclusion that mutations primarily contribute to aging through negative effects that amplify with age.