Search results for "Drosophila."
showing 10 items of 769 documents
An olfactory receptor for food-derived odours promotes male courtship in Drosophila.
2011
International audience; Many animals attract mating partners through the release of volatile sex pheromones, which can convey information on the species, gender and receptivity of the sender to induce innate courtship and mating behaviours by the receiver. Male Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies display stereotyped reproductive behaviours towards females, and these behaviours are controlled by the neural circuitry expressing male-specific isoforms of the transcription factor Fruitless (FRU(M)). However, the volatile pheromone ligands, receptors and olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that promote male courtship have not been identified in this important model organism. Here we describe a novel…
Mapping of genetic loci that change pheromone discrimination in Drosophila males
2002
0016-6723 (Print) Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Reproduction in individual animals of sexual species depends largely upon their ability to detect and distinguish specific signal(s) among those produced by various potential sexual partners. In Drosophila melanogaster males, there is a natural polymorphism for discrimination of female and male principal pheromones that segregates with chromosome 3. We have mapped two loci on chromosome 3 that change sex-pheromone discrimination in males. We successively exploited meiotic recombination, deficiencies and enhancer-trap strains; excision of the transposon in two selected enhancer-trap strains clearly reverted…
Genetic control of pheromones in Drosophila simulans. II. kete, a locus on the X chromosome
1993
0016-6731 (Print) Journal Article; The production of Drosophila cuticular hydrocarbons, including contact pheromones, is under polygenic control. To investigate X-linked loci, EMS mutations were induced in Drosophila simulans flies. A mutant strain was discovered which in both sexes show a reduction in the biosynthesis of both 7-tricosene (7-T) the species contact pheromone and all other linear hydrocarbons. The locus controlling this effect, kete, is recessive and was localized to I, 18.5. Unlike a previously identified gene on the second chromosome of this species, Ngbo, kete does not affect the ratio of 7-T:7-pentacosene (7-P). Other reproductive characteristics are also affected, includ…
Sequence variation in couch potato and its effects on life-history traits in a northern malt fly, Drosophila montana
2011
Abstract Couch potato ( cpo ) has previously been connected to reproductive diapause in several insect species including Drosophila melanogaster , where it has been suggested to provide a link between the insulin signalling pathway and the hormonal control of diapause. In the first part of the study we sequenced nearly 3.6 kb of this gene in a northern Drosophila species ( Drosophila montana ) with a robust photoperiodically determined diapause and found several types of polymorphisms along the sequenced area. We also found variation among five Drosophila virilis group species in the length of the 5th exon of cpo and in the site of the stop codon at the end of this exon. The second part of …
Myo-inositol as a main metabolite in overwintering flies: seasonal metabolomic profiles and cold stress tolerance in a northern drosophilid fly
2012
SUMMARY Coping with seasonal changes in temperature is an important factor underlying the ability of insects to survive over the harsh winter conditions in the northern temperate zone, and only a few drosophilids have been able to colonize sub-polar habitats. Information on their winter physiology is needed as it may shed light on the adaptive mechanisms of overwintering when compared with abundant data on the thermal physiology of more southern species, such as Drosophila melanogaster. Here we report the first seasonal metabolite analysis in a Drosophila species. We traced changes in the cold tolerance and metabolomic profiles in adult Drosophila montana flies that were exposed to thermope…
Species-specific effects of single sensillum ablation on mating position in Drosophila.
2003
0022-0949 (Print) Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Dipteran insects show a wide range of species-specific mating positions. Interspecific transitions from one position to another may reflect sexual or natural selection, or be pleiotropic consequences of other genetic changes. Like many cyclorrhaphan flies, Drosophila species mate with the male on the back of the female, positioned centrally. Mechanosensory sensilla on the male genitalia of three species of the melanogaster species sub-group of Drosophila have species-specific effects on mating position and on courtship success: ablation of a single pair of bristles on the genital claspers of D. melanogaste…
Genetic identification of a network of factors that functionally interact with the nucleosome remodeling ATPase ISWI.
2008
Nucleosome remodeling and covalent modifications of histones play fundamental roles in chromatin structure and function. However, much remains to be learned about how the action of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors and histone-modifying enzymes is coordinated to modulate chromatin organization and transcription. The evolutionarily conserved ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling factor ISWI plays essential roles in chromosome organization, DNA replication, and transcription regulation. To gain insight into regulation and mechanism of action of ISWI, we conducted an unbiased genetic screen to identify factors with which it interacts in vivo. We found that ISWI interacts with a network o…
Incipient speciation in Drosophila melanogaster involves chemical signals.
2012
WOS: 000300572900001; International audience; The sensory and genetic bases of incipient speciation between strains of Drosophila melanogaster from Zimbabwe and those from elsewhere are unknown. We studied mating behaviour between eight strains - six from Zimbabwe, together with two cosmopolitan strains. The Zimbabwe strains showed significant sexual isolation when paired with cosmopolitan males, due to Zimbabwe females discriminating against these males. Our results show that flies' cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs) were involved in this sexual isolation, but that visual and acoustic signals were not. The mating frequency of Zimbabwe females was highly significantly negatively correlated with t…
RNA methylation by Dnmt2 protects transfer RNAs against stress-induced cleavage
2010
The covalent modification of nucleic acids plays an important role in regulating the functions of DNA and RNA. DNA modifications have been analyzed in considerable detail, and the characterization of (cytosine-5) DNA methylation has been crucial for understanding the molecular basis of epigenetic gene regulation (Klose and Bird 2006). (Cytosine-5) methylation has also been documented in various RNA species, including tRNA, but the function of RNA methylation has not been firmly established yet (Motorin et al. 2010). Dnmt2 proteins were originally assigned to the DNA methyltransferase family, because of their strong sequence conservation of catalytic DNA methyltransferase motifs (Okano et al…
The Drosophila ACP65A cuticle gene: deletion scanning analysis of cis-regulatory sequences and regulation by DHR38.
2005
The regulatory sequences of the Drosophila ACP65A cuticle gene were analyzed in vivo in transgenic flies, using both fusion genes constructs and transposase-mediated deletions within a P element containing ACP65A regulatory sequences fused to the lacZ gene (deletion scanning). The sequences located between −594 and +161 are sufficient to confer both temporal and spatial expression specificities, indicating the presence of tissue-specific enhancers and response elements to hormone-induced factors. In addition, timing of expression and tissue-specificity appear to be controlled by distinct cis-regulatory elements, which suggests the existence of independent hormonal and tissue-specific signal…