The evolution of mechanosensory perception in the context of oviposition site choice in Drosophila

果蝇产卵地点选择背景下机械感觉的演变

• 批准号: 445151792
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Nicolas Gompel
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung III: Evolutionsbiologie und Ökologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2019-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/445151792?language=en
• 关键词: evolution; mechanosensory; perception; context; oviposition

Animal diversity is manifest, not only in the seemingly infinite variations of their morphology, but also in the variety of their innate behaviors. While our understanding of morphological variation takes the form of genetic principles today, our understanding of behavior evolution is lagging far behind. For this reason, my group as recently set up a simple paradigm to examine the genetic and neuronal changes underlying a simple change in behavior. We are studying how a female fly choses a suitable site to lay her eggs. We found that this key reproductive decision is made differently by closely related species of Drosophila with different ecologies. All species we have examined are akin to the model species D. melanogaster and use their sense of touch to probe substrate suitability for their eggs. Yet, their preferences for substrate stiffness have changed. In particular, the invasive pest species D. suzukii hardly choses between substrates of different stiffness, unless the difference is equivalent to that of a green strawberry vs. a ripe strawberry. By contrast, D. melanogaster proves extremely choosy, and prefers the stiffness equivalent to that of a rotten fruit over that of a very ripe fruit. In a first project, we want to dissect how a female fly (D. melanogaster) senses and selects substrate stiffness at the genetic and neuronal levels. We will elaborate on recent finding that have identified a key gene in this process, to decipher how and in which neurons this gene is used, and where these primary neurons dispatch the sensory information. We will take advantage of the abundant ressources available for Drosophila melanogaster neurogenetics. In a second project, we want to understand how the egg-laying substrate preferences have evolved. We will first focus on single flies of different species with different preferences, and describe their behavior quantitatively to understand how they operate their choice. We will then ask if the key gene for the choice behavior mentioned above, has itself accumulated changes in its coding sequence or in its regulation explaining the change of behavior. Finally, we will search for possible changes in the primary sensory neurons mediating the choice, by comparing their anatomy and by manipulating the key gene between species (exchanging alleles). Together, these 2 projects will provide an overview of the neurogenetics underlying a mechanosensory preference, and the evolution of this preference.

动物的多样性是显而易见的，不仅表现在它们形态上的无限变化，而且还表现在它们天生行为的多样性上。虽然我们对形态变异的理解今天以遗传原理的形式存在，但我们对行为进化的理解却远远落后。出于这个原因，我的团队最近建立了一个简单的范例来研究行为简单变化背后的遗传和神经元变化。我们正在研究雌性苍蝇如何选择合适的地点产卵。我们发现，这一关键的生殖决定是由生态环境不同、关系密切的果蝇物种做出的。我们研究的所有物种都与模式物种黑腹毛虫相似，并利用它们的触觉来探测底物是否适合它们的卵。然而，他们对衬底硬度的偏好已经改变。特别是，入侵害虫铃木很少在不同硬度的基质之间进行选择，除非这种差异相当于绿色草莓和成熟草莓的差异。相比之下，黑腹金龟被证明是极其挑剔的，它更喜欢腐烂水果的硬度，而不是非常成熟的水果的硬度。在第一个项目中，我们想要剖析雌性果蝇(黑腹果蝇)是如何在遗传和神经元水平上感知和选择基质僵硬的。我们将详细阐述最近发现的在这一过程中发现了一个关键基因，以破译该基因如何使用以及在哪些神经元中使用，以及这些初级神经元将感觉信息发送到哪里。我们将利用果蝇神经遗传学丰富的资源。在第二个项目中，我们想要了解产卵底物偏好是如何演变的。我们将首先关注具有不同偏好的不同物种的单只苍蝇，并定量描述它们的行为，以了解它们是如何操作它们的选择的。然后我们会问，上面提到的选择行为的关键基因本身是否在其编码序列或解释行为变化的规则中积累了变化。最后，我们将通过比较初级感觉神经元的解剖结构和操纵物种间的关键基因(交换等位基因)，寻找参与选择的初级感觉神经元可能发生的变化。这两个项目将一起概述机械感觉偏好背后的神经遗传学，以及这种偏好的演变。