Organisms with complex life cycles demonstrate a remarkable ability to change their phenotypes across development, presumably as an evolutionary adaptation to developmentally variable environments. Developmental variation in environmentally sensitive performance, and thermal sensitivity in particular, has been well documented in holometabolous insects. For example, thermal performance in adults and juvenile stages exhibit little genetic correlation (genetic decoupling) and can evolve independently, resulting in divergent thermal responses. Yet, we understand very little about how this genetic decoupling occurs. We tested the hypothesis that genetic decoupling of thermal physiology is driven by fundamental differences in physiology between life stages, despite a potentially conserved Cellular Stress Response. We used RNAseq to compare transcript expression in response to a cold stressor in Drosophila melanogaster larvae and adults and used RNAi (RNA interference) to test whether knocking down nine target genes differentially affected larval and adult cold tolerance. Transcriptomic responses of whole larvae and adults during and following exposure to -5°C were largely unique both in identity of responding transcripts and in temporal dynamics. Further, we analyzed the tissue-specificity of differentially-expressed transcripts from FlyAtlas 2 data, and concluded that stage-specific differences in transcription were not simply driven by differences in tissue composition. In addition, RNAi of target genes resulted in largely stage-specific and sometimes sex-specific effects on cold tolerance. The combined evidence suggests that thermal physiology is largely stage-specific at the level of gene expression, and thus natural selection may be acting on different loci during the independent thermal adaptation of different life stages.
Transcriptomic and functional genetic evidence for distinct ecophysiological responses across complex life cycle stages
Present address: Department of Computational Biomedicine, Ceders-Sinai Medical Center, 700 NS B2G 2W5, Canada
Present address: Department of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University, 2321 Notre Dame Ave, N. San Vicente Blvd., Pacific Design Center Suite G540, West Hollywood, CA 90069, USA
Present address: Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, 270 Great King Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
Present address: National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue Alexandria, VA 22314 USA
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): National Science Foundation
- Award Id(s): IOS 1700773
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): National Science Foundation
- Award Id(s): DBI 1460802
- Funder(s):
Currently Viewing Accepted Manuscript - Newer Version Available
Philip J. Freda, Jantina Toxopeus, Edwina J. Dowle, Zainab M. Ali, Nicholas Heter, Rebekah L. Collier, Isaiah Sower, Joseph C. Tucker, Theodore J. Morgan, Gregory J. Ragland; Transcriptomic and functional genetic evidence for distinct ecophysiological responses across complex life cycle stages. J Exp Biol 2022; jeb.244063. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.244063
Download citation file:
Advertisement
2023 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize shortlist and winner
The JEB Editors are delighted to announce the shortlisted authors for the 2023 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize. Read the winning paper - Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls - by Hoover Pantoja-Sanchez and Brian Leavell from Ximena Bernal's lab at Purdue University, USA.
JEB Science Communication Workshop for ECRs
If you’re an early-career researcher interested in science communication and are attending the SEB Annual Conference in Prague this summer, come a day early and join the JEB Editors at a sci comm workshop to learn the key writing skills needed to promote your research to a broad audience beyond your peers (1 July at 14.30-17.30). Places are limited to 24 attendees, and applicants should apply through the SEB registration page by 30 April 2024.
Bridging the gap between controlled conditions and natural habitats in understanding behaviour
Novel technologies enable behavioural experiments with non-model species, in naturalistic habitats and with underexplored behaviours. In their Commentary, Scholz and colleagues discuss how to obtain a deeper understanding of the natural ecology and lifestyle of study animals.
Beluga metabolic measures could help save species
To help save animals from extinction, it’s important to understand what each species needs to survive. This led Jason John et al. to measure the metabolic rates of captive belugas to develop a ‘fish calculator’ showing that the whales need to eat ~23 salmon per day.
ECR Workshop on Positive Peer Review
Are you an ECR looking for tips on how to write concise, astute and useful manuscript reviews? If so, join the JEB Editors at a 2-hour JEB-sponsored Workshop on Positive Peer Review at the Canadian Society of Zoologists annual meeting in Moncton on 9 May 2024 at 13.00-15.00. There are 25 spaces for ECRs and selection is first come, first serve. To sign up, check the ECR Workshop box when you register for the CSZ meeting.