The Mechanisms Underlying α-Amanitin Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster: A Microarray Analysis

The Mechanisms Underlying α-Amanitin Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster: A Microarray Analysis

The rapid evolution of toxin resistance in animals has important consequences for the ecology of species and our economy. Pesticide resistance in insects has been a subject of intensive study; however, very little is known about how Drosophila species became resistant to natural toxins with ecological relevance, such as α-amanitin that is produced in deadly poisonous mushrooms. Here we performe...

The Mechanisms of Α-amanitin Resistance in the Fruit Fly Drosophila Melanogaster

α-amanitin resistance in Drosophila melanogaster: A genome-wide association approach

We investigated the mechanisms of mushroom toxin resistance in the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) fly lines, using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). While Drosophila melanogaster avoids mushrooms in nature, some lines are surprisingly resistant to α-amanitin-a toxin found solely in mushrooms. This resistance may represent a pre-adaptation, which might enable this species to inv...

Genetics of alpha-amanitin resistance in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster.

The genetic basis of variation in resistance to natural toxins is of interest for both ecological and evolutionary genetics. The wide variety of larval resources used by Drosophila, both within and between species, makes flies an excellent system for studying causes and consequences of selection resulting from exposure to natural toxins associated with different resources. In this study we carr...

Mechanisms underlying sexual selection and sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster

The revelation that females o f many taxa mate with multiple males has broadened perspectives in sexual selection to encompass the study o f conflicts of interest between males and females over mating and reproduction. Conflict often exists between the sexes over reproductive decisions such as how often to mate, because the optimum mating rate may often be higher for males than for females. Sel...