Wild African Drosophila melanogaster Are Seasonal Specialists on Marula Fruit
| Autor: | Marcus C. Stensmyr, Anders Enjin, Erling Jirle, Vedika Ramesh, John E. Pool, Paul G. Becher, Suzan Mansourian, Guillermo Rehermann |
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| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine Anacardiaceae Population Zoology Locus (genetics) Biology Receptors Odorant Mopane 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Africa Southern General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology 03 medical and health sciences Animals education education.field_of_study Chemotaxis fungi Feeding Behavior Drosophila erecta biology.organism_classification Commensalism Drosophila melanogaster 030104 developmental biology Fruit Female Seasons General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Sclerocarya birrea |
| Zdroj: | Current Biology. 28:3960-3968.e3 |
| ISSN: | 0960-9822 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.033 |
| Popis: | Summary Although the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster is arguably the most studied organism on the planet, fundamental aspects of this species’ natural ecology have remained enigmatic [ 1 ]. We have here investigated a wild population of D. melanogaster from a mopane forest in Zimbabwe. We find that these flies are closely associated with marula fruit (Sclerocarya birrea) and propose that this seasonally abundant and predominantly Southern African fruit is a key ancestral host of D. melanogaster. Moreover, when fruiting, marula is nearly exclusively used by D. melanogaster, suggesting that these forest-dwelling D. melanogaster are seasonal specialists, in a similar manner to, e.g., Drosophila erecta on screw pine cones [ 2 ]. We further demonstrate that the main chemicals released by marula activate odorant receptors that mediate species-specific host choice (Or22a) [ 3 , 4 ] and oviposition site selection (Or19a) [ 5 ]. The Or22a-expressing neurons—ab3A—respond strongly to the marula ester ethyl isovalerate, a volatile rarely encountered in high amounts in other fruit. We also show that Or22a differs among African populations sampled from a wide range of habitats, in line with a function associated with host fruit usage. Flies from Southern Africa, most of which carry a distinct allele at the Or22a/Or22b locus, have ab3A neurons that are more sensitive to ethyl isovalerate than, e.g., European flies. Finally, we discuss the possibility that marula, which is also a culturally and nutritionally important resource to humans, may have helped the transition to commensalism in D. melanogaster. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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