Search results for "Drosophila."
showing 10 items of 769 documents
Testing <em>Drosophila</em> Olfaction with a Y-maze Assay
2014
Detecting signals from the environment is essential for animals to ensure their survival. To this aim, they use environmental cues such as vision, mechanoreception, hearing, and chemoperception through taste, via direct contact or through olfaction, which represents the response to a volatile molecule acting at longer range. Volatile chemical molecules are very important signals for most animals in the detection of danger, a source of food, or to communicate between individuals. Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most common biological models for scientists to explore the cellular and molecular basis of olfaction. In order to highlight olfactory abilities of this small insect, we describ…
How consistent are the transcriptome changes associated with cold acclimation in two species of the Drosophila virilis group?
2015
This work was financially support by a Marie Curie Initial Training Network grant, “Understanding the evolutionary origin of biological diversity” (ITN-2008–213780 SPECIATION), grants from the Academy of Finland to A.H. (project 132619) and M.K. (projects 268214 and 272927), a grant from NERC, UK to M.G.R. (grant NE/J020818/1), and NERC, UK PhD studentship to D.J.P. (NE/I528634/1). For many organisms the ability to cold acclimate with the onset of seasonal cold has major implications for their fitness. In insects, where this ability is widespread, the physiological changes associated with increased cold tolerance have been well studied. Despite this, little work has been done to trace chang…
Cabut/dTIEG associates with the transcription factor Yorkie for growth control
2015
The Drosophila transcription factor Cabut/dTIEG (Cbt) is a growth regulator, whose expression is modulated by different stimuli. Here, we determine Cbt association with chromatin and identify Yorkie (Yki), the transcriptional co-activator of the Hippo (Hpo) pathway as its partner. Cbt and Yki co-localize on common gene promoters, and the expression of target genes varies according to changes in Cbt levels. Down-regulation of Cbt suppresses the overgrowth phenotypes caused by mutations in expanded (ex) and yki overexpression, whereas its up-regulation promotes cell proliferation. Our results imply that Cbt is a novel partner of Yki that is required as a transcriptional co-activator in growth…
The nucleosome remodeling factor ISWI functionally interacts with an evolutionarily conserved network of cellular factors
2010
Abstract ISWI is an evolutionarily conserved ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor playing central roles in DNA replication, RNA transcription, and chromosome organization. The variety of biological functions dependent on ISWI suggests that its activity could be highly regulated. Our group has previously isolated and characterized new cellular activities that positively regulate ISWI in Drosophila melanogaster. To identify factors that antagonize ISWI activity we developed a novel in vivo eye-based assay to screen for genetic suppressors of ISWI. Our screen revealed that ISWI interacts with an evolutionarily conserved network of cellular and nuclear factors that escaped previous genetic…
The DrosDel Deletion Collection: A Drosophila Genomewide Chromosomal Deficiency Resource
2007
AbstractWe describe a second-generation deficiency kit for Drosophila melanogaster composed of molecularly mapped deletions on an isogenic background, covering ∼77% of the Release 5.1 genome. Using a previously reported collection of FRT-bearing P-element insertions, we have generated 655 new deletions and verified a set of 209 deletion-bearing fly stocks. In addition to deletions, we demonstrate how the P elements may also be used to generate a set of custom inversions and duplications, particularly useful for balancing difficult regions of the genome carrying haplo-insufficient loci. We describe a simple computational resource that facilitates selection of appropriate elements for generat…
Inherited semisterility for control of harmful insects. I. Productions of semisterility due to translocation in the mosquito,Culex pipiens L., by X-r…
1971
In Anbetracht der theoretischen und in einem Freilandexperiment bereits erwiesenen Moglichkeit der Bekampfung von Schadinsekten durch Freilassung semisteriler Tiere wurde die Produktion von Translokationen und damit verbundener Semisterilitat bei der StechmuckeCulex pipiens untersucht. Die Totalrate der erzeugten Translokationen liegt bei Stechmucken im Vergleich zuDrosophila auffallend hoch. Es besteht offenbar eine Korrelation zwischen der Gesamtlange der Chromosomen und der Translokationsrate.
Serotoninergic Modulation of Phototactic Variability Underpins a Bet-Hedging Strategy in Drosophila melanogaster
2021
When organisms’ environmental conditions vary unpredictably in time, it can be advantageous for individuals to hedge their phenotypic bets. It has been shown that a bet-hedging strategy possibly underlies the high inter-individual diversity of phototactic choice in Drosophila melanogaster. This study shows that fruit flies from a population living in a boreal and relatively unpredictable climate have more variable variable phototactic biases than fruit flies from a more stable tropical climate, consistent with bet-hedging theory. We experimentally show that phototactic variability of D. melanogaster is regulated by the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT), which acts as a suppressor of the var…
A Systematic Nomenclature for the Insect Brain
2014
SummaryDespite the importance of the insect nervous system for functional and developmental neuroscience, descriptions of insect brains have suffered from a lack of uniform nomenclature. Ambiguous definitions of brain regions and fiber bundles have contributed to the variation of names used to describe the same structure. The lack of clearly determined neuropil boundaries has made it difficult to document precise locations of neuronal projections for connectomics study. To address such issues, a consortium of neurobiologists studying arthropod brains, the Insect Brain Name Working Group, has established the present hierarchical nomenclature system, using the brain of Drosophila melanogaster…
FlyMove – a new way to look at development of Drosophila
2003
Development of any organism requires a complex interplay of genes to orchestrate the many movements needed to build up an embryo. Previously, work on Drosophila melanogaster has provided important insights that are often applicable in other systems. But developmental processes, which take place in space and time, are difficult to convey in textbooks. Here, we introduce FlyMove (http://flymove.uni-muenster.de), a new database combining movies, animated schemata, interactive "modules" and pictures that will greatly facilitate the understanding of Drosophila development.
Courtship behaviour of Drosophila melanogaster revisited
2006
0003-3472 doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.01.027; Nearly all studies of Drosophila melanogaster courtship have focused exclusively on male behaviour. Female precopulatory behaviour is often relegated to ‘accept' or ‘reject' mating, and how female behaviour interacts with that of males remains largely unknown. Using a video-computing approach, we measured 10 behavioural states and 22 elementary behaviours that occur during the precopulatory phase of Canton-S (Cs) flies. Male and female behaviours were studied under a variety of social conditions. This allowed us to identify which one(s) is relevant to courtship or to general activity. Our analysis showed that the courtship repertoire was no…