TY - JOUR

T1 - Preparing for Winter

T2 - The Transcriptomic Response Associated with Different Day Lengths in Drosophila montana

AU - Parker, Darren J

AU - Ritchie, Michael G

AU - Kankare, Maaria

N1 - Copyright © 2016 Parker et al.

PY - 2016/5/3

Y1 - 2016/5/3

N2 - At northern latitudes, the most robust cue for assessing the onset of winter is the shortening of day lengths. Many species use day length as a cue to increase their cold tolerance and/or enter into diapause, but little is known about changes in gene expression that occur under different day lengths. We investigate the gene expression changes associated with differences in light/dark cycles in Drosophila montana, a northerly distributed species with a strong adult photoperiodic reproductive diapause. To examine gene expression changes induced by light both prior to and during diapause, we used both nondiapausing and diapausing flies. We found that the majority of genes that are differentially expressed between different day lengths in nondiapausing and diapausing flies differ. However, the biological processes involved were broadly similar. These included neuron development and metabolism, which are largely consistent with an increase in cold tolerance previously observed to occur in these flies. We also found that many genes associated with reproduction change in expression level between different day lengths, suggesting that D. montana use changes in day length to cue changes in reproduction both before and after entering into diapause. Finally, we also identified several interesting candidate genes for light-induced changes including Lsp2, para, and Ih.

AB - At northern latitudes, the most robust cue for assessing the onset of winter is the shortening of day lengths. Many species use day length as a cue to increase their cold tolerance and/or enter into diapause, but little is known about changes in gene expression that occur under different day lengths. We investigate the gene expression changes associated with differences in light/dark cycles in Drosophila montana, a northerly distributed species with a strong adult photoperiodic reproductive diapause. To examine gene expression changes induced by light both prior to and during diapause, we used both nondiapausing and diapausing flies. We found that the majority of genes that are differentially expressed between different day lengths in nondiapausing and diapausing flies differ. However, the biological processes involved were broadly similar. These included neuron development and metabolism, which are largely consistent with an increase in cold tolerance previously observed to occur in these flies. We also found that many genes associated with reproduction change in expression level between different day lengths, suggesting that D. montana use changes in day length to cue changes in reproduction both before and after entering into diapause. Finally, we also identified several interesting candidate genes for light-induced changes including Lsp2, para, and Ih.

KW - Animals

KW - Chromosome Mapping

KW - Cluster Analysis

KW - Computational Biology/methods

KW - Drosophila/genetics

KW - Female

KW - Gene Expression Profiling

KW - Gene Expression Regulation

KW - Gene Ontology

KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation

KW - Photoperiod

KW - Seasons

KW - Transcriptome

U2 - 10.1534/g3.116.027870

DO - 10.1534/g3.116.027870

M3 - Article

C2 - 26976440

VL - 6

SP - 1373

EP - 1381

JO - G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics

JF - G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics

SN - 2160-1836

IS - 5

ER -