The genetic basis of diurnal preference in Drosophila melanogaster
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
The genetic basis of diurnal preference in Drosophila melanogaster Mirko Pegoraro1,2, Laura M. M. Flavell1, Pamela Menegazzi3, Perrine Colombi1, Pauline Dao1, Charlotte Helfrich-Förster3 and Eran Tauber1,4*
Abstract Background: Most animals restrict their activity to a specific part of the day, being diurnal, nocturnal or crepuscular. The genetic basis underlying diurnal preference is largely unknown. Under laboratory conditions, Drosophila melanogaster is crepuscular, showing a bi-modal activity profile. However, a survey of strains derived from wild populations indicated that high variability among individuals exists, including flies that are nocturnal. Results: Using a highly diverse population, we performed an artificial selection experiment, selecting flies with extreme diurnal or nocturnal preference. After 10 generations, we obtained highly diurnal and nocturnal strains. We used whole-genome expression analysis to identify differentially expressed genes in diurnal, nocturnal and crepuscular (control) flies. Other than one circadian clock gene (pdp1), most differentially expressed genes were associated with either clock output (pdf, to) or input (Rh3, Rh2, msn). This finding was congruent with behavioural experiments indicating that both light masking and the circadian pacemaker are involved in driving nocturnality. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that genetic variation segregating in wild populations contributes to substantial variation in diurnal preference. We identified candidate genes associated with diurnality/nocturnality, while data emerging from our expression analysis and behavioural experiments suggest that both clock and clockindependent pathways are involved in shaping diurnal preference. The diurnal and nocturnal selection strains provide us with a unique opportunity to understand the genetic architecture of diurnal preference. Keywords: Circadian clock, Drosophila, Diurnal preference, Nocturnality
Background Although time is one of the most important dimensions that define the species ecological niche, it is often a neglected research area [1]. Most animal species exhibit locomotor activity that is restricted to a defined part of the day, and this preference constitutes the speciesspecific temporal niche. Selection for activity during a specific time of the day is driven by various factors, including preferred temperature or light intensity, food * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK 4 Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology and Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, 3498838 Haifa, Israel Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
availability and predation. The genetic basis for such phase preference is largely unknown and is the focus of this study. The fact that diurnality preference is usually similar within phylogenetic groups [2] alludes to an underlying genetic mechanism. The nocturnality of
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