Selection for ethanol tolerance in two populations of Drosophila melanogaster segregating alcohol dehydrogenase allozymes

THE GENETICS OF CENTRAL AND MARGINAL POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA SERRATA. I. GENETIC VARIATION FOR STRESS RESISTANCE AND SPECIES BORDERS

A selection experiment was used to determine if levels of genetic variance in an ecologically important trait, desiccation resistance, were different in central and marginal populations. Four populations of Drosophila serrata were sampled from central and marginal areas of its distribution, along a 3000-km stretch of Australia's east coast. Rainfall patterns along this stretch of coastline change from a tropical cycle in the north to a temperate cycle in the south. Replicate lines from the four populations underwent selection for desiccation resistance for 14 generations. Realized heritabilities calculated after 10 and 14 generations of selection indicated that the four populations differed significantly in the level of genetic variation for desiccation resistance available to selection. Populations from the more southern marginal areas had lower realized heritabilities than more northern central populations. However, a corresponding increase in mean desiccation resistance toward the margin was not found. A mechanism by which D. serrata seemed to have responded to selection was a reduction in the extent that metabolic rate was increased when flies were exposed to low humidity. This response indicates genetic variation for the control of metabolic rate. In contrast, increased desiccation resistance was not associated with lipid or glycogen levels. Increased resistance to desiccation was accompanied by increased starvation resistance, but radiation resistance was not affected. Selection did not affect the degree that replicate lines or populations had diverged.

Sex differences in oxidative stress resistance in relation to longevity in Drosophila melanogaster

Gender differences in lifespan and aging are known across species. Sex differences in longevity within a species can be useful to understand sex-specific aging. Drosophila melanogaster is a good model to study the problem of sex differences in longevity since females are longer lived than males. There is evidence that stress resistance influences longevity. The objective of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between sex differences in longevity and oxidative stress resistance in D. melanogaster. We observed a progressive age-dependent decrease in the activity of SOD and catalase, major antioxidant enzymes involved in defense mechanisms against oxidative stress in parallel to the increased ROS levels over time. Longer-lived females showed lower ROS levels and higher antioxidant enzymes than males as a function of age. Using ethanol as a stressor, we have shown differential susceptibility of the sexes to ethanol wherein females exhibited higher resistance to ethanol-induced mortality and locomotor behavior compared to males. Our results show strong correlation between sex differences in oxidative stress resistance, antioxidant defenses and longevity. The study suggests that higher antioxidant defenses in females may confer resistance to oxidative stress, which could be a factor that influences sex-specific aging in D. melanogaster.

Testing temporal changes in allele frequencies: a simulation approach

Analysis of the temporal variation in allele frequencies is useful for studying microevolutionary processes. However, many statistical methods routinely used to test temporal changes in allele frequencies fail to establish a proper hypothesis or have theoretical or practical limitations. Here, a Bayesian statistical test is proposed in which the distribution of the distances among sampling frequencies is approached with computer simulations, and hypergeometric sampling is considered instead of binomial sampling. To validate the test and compare its performance with other tests, agent-based model simulations were run for a variety of scenarios, and two real molecular databases were analysed. The results showed that the simulation test (ST) maintained the significance value used (α=0·05) for a vast combination of parameter values, whereas other tests were sensitive to the effect of genetic drift or binomial sampling. The differences between binomial and hypergeometric sampling were more complex than expected, and a novel effect was described. This study suggests that the ST is especially useful for studies with small populations and many alleles, as in microsatellite or sequencing molecular data.

Membrane lipid physiology and toxin catabolism underlie ethanol and acetic acid tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster has evolved the ability to tolerate and utilize high levels of ethanol and acetic acid encountered in its rotting-fruit niche. Investigation of this phenomenon has focused on ethanol catabolism, particularly by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. Here we report that survival under ethanol and acetic acid stress in D. melanogaster from high- and low-latitude populations is an integrated consequence of toxin catabolism and alteration of physical properties of cellular membranes by ethanol. Metabolic detoxification contributed to differences in ethanol tolerance between populations and acclimation temperatures via changes in both alcohol dehydrogenase and acetyl-CoA synthetase mRNA expression and enzyme activity. Independent of changes in ethanol catabolism, rapid thermal shifts that change membrane fluidity had dramatic effects on ethanol tolerance. Cold temperature treatments upregulated phospholipid metabolism genes and enhanced acetic acid tolerance, consistent with the predicted effects of restoring membrane fluidity. Phospholipase D was expressed at high levels in all treatments that conferred enhanced ethanol tolerance, suggesting that this lipid-mediated signaling enzyme may enhance tolerance by sequestering ethanol in membranes as phophatidylethanol. These results reveal new candidate genes underlying toxin tolerance and membrane adaptation to temperature in Drosophila and provide insight into how interactions between these phenotypes may underlie the maintenance of latitudinal clines in ethanol tolerance.

Drosophila melanogaster, a genetic model system for alcohol research

In its natural environment, which consists of fermenting plant materials, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster encounters high levels of ethanol. Flies are well equipped to deal with the toxic effects of ethanol; they use it as an energy source and for lipid biosynthesis. The primary ethanol-metabolizing pathway in flies involves the enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH); their role in adaptation to ethanol-rich environments has been studied extensively. The similarity between Drosophila and mammals is not restricted to the manner in which they metabolize ethanol; behaviors elicited by ethanol exposure are also remarkably similar in these organisms. Flies show signs of acute intoxication, which range from locomotor stimulation at low doses to complete sedation at higher doses, they develop tolerance upon intermittent ethanol exposure, and they appear to like ethanol, showing preference for ethanol-containing media. Molecular genetic analysis of ethanol-induced behaviors in Drosophila, while still in its early stages, has already revealed some surprising parallels with mammals. The availability of powerful tools for genetic manipulation in Drosophila, together with the high degree of conservation at the genomic level, make Drosophila a promising model organism to study the mechanism by which ethanol regulates behavior and the mechanisms underlying the organism's adaptation to long-term ethanol exposure.

ADH activity and ethanol tolerance in third chromosome substitution lines in Drosophila melanogaster

In vitro ADH activity and ethanol tolerance were studied in males of a series of third chromosome substitution lines in Drosophila melanogaster. The lines were divided into those with a random third chromosome from a vineyard population (VO lines) and those with a selected third chromosome from males obtained after an egg-to-adult ethanol survival test on the F4 of the previous population (VE lines). Both ADH activity and ethanol tolerance varied significantly among the lines, but the characters showed no significant correlation. Ethanol tolerance (at the higher ethanol concentrations) was higher in the selected lines (VE lines) but ADH activity was not. In our lines, the in vitro ADH activity variability, linked to the regulatory genes (located on the third chromosome) and unrelated to the polymorphism of the Adh locus (located on the second chromosome), is not involved in the ethanol tolerance variability. The data suggest that in this population ethanol tolerance was acquired in nature, at least partially, by means other than increasing ADH activity.

Changes in gene frequencies at the octanol dehydrogenase locus of Drosophila melanogaster imposed by environmental ethanol

Experiments have been performed to study the effect of selection at the Odh locus in Drosophila melanogaster populations using different alcohol concentrations in the medium. The data can be best interpreted by assuming frequency-dependent selection. When genotype frequencies are considered as independent variables and values of Wrightian fitness as dependent variables, it turns out that different functions describe the selection of the coexisting genotypes. A linear equation is used for the SF genotype and a hyperbolic function for the FF genotype. No function of good fit could be found for the SS genotype. Simulation experiments using these functions fit our data well.

The alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphism of Drosophila melanogaster in relation to environmental ethanol, ethanol tolerance and alcohol dehydrogenase activity

Ethanol levels in Drosophila breeding sites were higher in a winery storing fortified wines than in nearby grape pressings or in orchard fruits. The relative abundance of D. simulans to D. melanogaster was negatively correlated with ethanol levels. In D. melanogaster there were no significant differences in AdhF frequency between the orchard and winery populations. The ethanol tolerance of wild caught D. melanogaster males paralleled the levels of ethanol in the breeding sites but Adh alleles and ethanol tolerance segregated largely independently of each other. Levels of ADH activity were positively associated with the ethanol tolerance of the different populations and with levels of ethanol in the breeding sites, but it is argued that the ethanol levels are not causative. Flies from inside the winery had higher ADH levels due mainly to greater amounts of ADH-F. The difference in activity persisted for at least one generation in the laboratory. After ten generations of laboratory culture the differences in ethanol tolerance were still present but there were no significant differences in ADH activity.

Relation between tolerance to ethanol and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity in Drosophila melanogaster: selection, genotype and sex effects

The suggestion of Oakeshott et al. (1984) that selection at the Adh locus, as a response to ethanol, is restricted to D. melanogaster laboratory-adapted populations, is tested in this paper with the "Lagar de los Reyes" (LR) lines. For this purpose, homozygous lines for the AdhF and the AdhS alleles were maintained on food supplemented with ethanol. After the selection, the ethanol tolerance and the ADH activity of the selected flies (LRSeF and LRSeS) were determined and compared with those of the control flies (LRCF and LRCS), maintained on standard medium. Then, the effects of the selection, genotype and sex, and the relation between ethanol tolerance and ADH activity were analysed. Our results fail to show a consistent correlation between ethanol tolerance and ADH activity in the adults of LR lines. Our findings also indicate that adaptation of D. melanogaster to ethanol-containing food could be accomplished without significant changes on the ADH activity in the adults. The possibility that the adaptation of D. melanogaster to environmental ethanol could be independent of the Adh locus is discussed.

Genetic divergence under uniform selection. III. Selection for knockdown resistance to ethanol in Drosophila pseudoobscura populations and their replicate lines

Replicate D. pseudoobscura lines from populations collected at different geographic locations were selected for increased knockdown resistance to ethanol. Population background affected the initial rate of response but not the extent that lines responded. Lines were tested for physiological traits contributing to increased knockdown resistance. Populations showed different correlated responses for two traits (tolerance of ethanol, and of acetone), suggesting that they had responded to selection by different mechanisms. Replicate lines had diverged for most traits. The results indicate that drift and/or differences in genetic background can lead to divergence under uniform selection, even when fairly large population sizes are maintained.

Ethanol tolerances of Drosophila melanogaster populations selected on different concentrations of ethanol supplemented media

Eight recently collected Australasian populations of D. melanogaster were each divided into eight selection lines. Two of these lines from each population were maintained on one of four types of selection media: standard food supplemented with 0%, 3%, 6% and 9% ethanol. After 30 generations the selection lines were tested for tolerance to 9% ethanol medium and after another 20 generations adults were tested for tolerance to concentrated ethanol fumes. Significant differences in tolerance were found among lines selected on different media which were consistent across the eight populations. On the 9% test media, the 6% and 9% selection lines, as compared with the control lines selected on 0% ethanol, were more likely to survive as pre-adults or adults, faster to develop as preadults, and heavier and more productive as adults. However, the tolerance of the 3% lines to the 9% test media was less than that of the 0% control lines in preadult and adult survival, intermediate between that of the 0% and the 6% and 9% lines in productivities, and apparently superior to the 6% and 9% lines in development times and adult weights. The 3%, 6% and 9% lines showed similar tolerances to the ethanol vapour. Previous work showed that 3% ethanol can be a metabolic benefit to D. melanogaster but 6% and 9% are metabolic costs. The present results suggest that the phenotype selected on 3% to obtain a metabolic benefit differs in many respects from that selected on 6% and 9% to minimise their detrimental effects.

Selective effects of the genetic background and ethanol on the alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster

Eight freshly caught Australasian mass collections ranging in Adh F frequency from 4 to 96 per cent were each divided into eight selection lines. Two selection lines from each base population were put on one of four types of medium-standard food supplemented with 0 per cent, 3 per cent, 6 per cent or 9 per cent ethanol. After 30 generations the tolerance of 6 per cent and 9 per cent selection lines on a test dose of 9 per cent ethanol was greater than that of the 0 per cent lines on this dose. The tolerance of the 3 per cent lines on this dose was less than that of the 0 per cent lines. There were no significant differences in the tolerance responses across the eight base populations but in only one did Adh frequencies diverge among the four ethanol selection environments: F frequencies in the Brisbane 9 per cent lines were higher than in the Brisbane 0 per cent, 3 per cent and 6 per cent lines. Although the selection affecting Adh did not generally differ among the four selection environments, it differed highly significantly among the eight base populations. The equilibrium F frequencies predicted from the maximum likelihood estimates of the selection coefficients were in close agreement with the frequencies observed in the original collections. The only aspect of the coefficients which was consistent across base populations was FS heterozygote superiority.

Analyzing gene-frequency data when the effective population size is finite

The statistical methods used by SCHAFFER, YARDLEY and ANDERSON (1977) and by GIBSON et al. (1979) to analyze the variation in allele frequencies in two common types of experimental procedure, where the effective population size is finite, are extended to a more general situation involving a greater range of experiments. The analysis developed is more sensitive in detecting changes in allele frequency due to both fluctuating and balancing selection, as well as to directional selection. The error involved in many studies due to ignoring the effective population size structure would appear to be large. The range of hypothesis that can be considered may be increased as well. Finally, the method of determining bounds for the effective population size, when a particular genetic model is known to hold for a data set, is also outlined.