Meeting Abstract
P3.31 Thursday, Jan. 6 Effects of Temperature on Gene Expression in a Desert Drosophila GIBBS, AG*; RAJPUROHIT, S; OLIVEIRA, CC; ETGES, WJ; Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas; Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas; Univ. of Arkansas; Univ.of Arkansas allen.gibbs@unlv.edu
Many climate models predict that southwestern North America will become even warmer and drier than it currently is. It is therefore important to understand how organisms already occurring there respond to environmental stress. The cactus fly, Drosophila mojavensis, is the only desert organism whose genome has been sequenced. We used whole-transcriptome microarrays to study the effects of temperature on gene expression in D. mojavensis. We reared flies from four populations from Baja California and Sonora, Mexico, at 15, 25 and 35oC. Populations differed in the expression of 344 genes, while temperature affected the expression of 470 genes. We used the GO DAVID and AmiGO web applications to identify functionally related groups of genes whose expression increased at high temperatures. Known heat response genes were overrepresented, as well as genes encoding odorant binding proteins, ion and amino acid transporters, and chitin metabolism proteins. In contrast, genes involved in circadian rhythms and biosynthesis had reduced expression. Population-by-temperature interactions affected the expression of nearly 3000 of the 14,528 predicted genes. This suggests that genotype-by-environment interactions have substantial effects on the transcriptome. An important consequence for D. mojavensis, and presumably other species, is that climate change will affect natural populations adapted to different environments in different ways. Supported by NSF award EF-0723930.
