Urquhart-Cronish Mackenzie, Sokolowski Marla B
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada; Child and Brain Development Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON M5G 1ZB, Canada.
J Insect Physiol. 2014 Oct;69:95-100. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2014.06.001. Epub 2014 Jun 12.
Life history consequences of stress in early life are varied and known to have lasting impacts on the fitness of an organism. Gene-environment interactions play a large role in how phenotypic differences are mediated by stressful conditions during development. Here we use natural allelic 'rover/sitter' variants of the foraging (for) gene and chronic early life nutrient deprivation to investigate gene-environment interactions on excretion phenotypes. Excretion assay analysis and a fully factorial nutritional regimen encompassing the larval and adult life cycle of Drosophila melanogaster were used to assess the effects of larval and adult nutritional stress on adult excretion phenotypes. Natural allelic variants of for exhibited differences in the number of fecal spots when they were nutritionally deprived as larvae and well fed as adults. for mediates the excretion response to chronic early-life nutritional stress in mated female, virgin female, and male rovers and sitters. Transgenic manipulations of for in a sitter genetic background under larval but not adult food deprivation increases the number of fecal spots. Our study shows that food deprivation early in life affects adult excretion phenotypes and these excretion differences are mediated by for.
早期生活应激对生命史的影响是多样的，并且已知会对生物体的适应性产生持久影响。基因-环境相互作用在发育过程中应激条件如何介导表型差异方面起着重要作用。在这里，我们使用觅食（for）基因的天然等位基因“漫游者/静坐者”变体以及早期生活中长期的营养剥夺来研究基因-环境对排泄表型的相互作用。利用排泄试验分析以及涵盖黑腹果蝇幼虫和成虫生命周期的全因子营养方案，来评估幼虫和成虫营养应激对成虫排泄表型的影响。当幼虫期营养剥夺而成年期喂养良好时，for基因的天然等位基因变体在粪便斑点数量上表现出差异。for介导了交配雌蝇、未交配雌蝇以及雄性漫游者和静坐者对早期生活中长期营养应激的排泄反应。在幼虫期而非成虫期食物剥夺的情况下，对静坐者遗传背景下的for基因进行转基因操作会增加粪便斑点的数量。我们的研究表明，生命早期的食物剥夺会影响成虫的排泄表型，并且这些排泄差异是由for基因介导的。
