Meeting Abstract
The effects of temperature on physiological processes are ubiquitous. However, to a large extent, the effects of thermal stress on developmental processes during early life stages have not been characterized. We employed high-resolution confocal microscope imaging to examine early embryonic development across ecologically relevant thermal gradients in Drosophila melanogaster. We quantified changes in the actin cytoskeleton, using a fractal dimension modeling framework, and we found that high temperatures induced significant disruptions to the actin cytoskeleton, which is the major molecular driver of early development. These changes were coupled with generalized protein aggregation and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) within the maternally-derived endoplasmic reticulum (ER). As Drosophila embryos routinely experience such thermal fluctuations during development, these results provide a mechanistic framework with which to explore thermal constraints that may shape the evolution of spatiotemporally-restricted egg laying rhythms, as well as the limits of physiological plasticity during early development.
