Publication with datasets Telonis-Scott et al. 2011, The molecular genetics of clinal variation: a case study of ebony and thoracic trident pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster from eastern Australia, Molecular Ecology

Keywords
Drosophila pigmentation, Clinal variation and Gene expression

Summary

ABSTRACT: Widespread pigmentation diversity coupled with a well-defined genetic system of melanin synthesis and patterning in Drosophila provides an excellent opportunity to study phenotypes undergoing evolutionary change. Pigmentation variation is highly correlated with different ecological variables and is thought to reflect adaptations to different environments. Several studies have linked candidate genes from Drosophila melanogaster to intra-population variation and interspecific morphological divergence, but less clearly to variation among populations forming pigmentation clines. We characterized a new thoracic trident pigmentation cline in D. melanogaster populations from eastern Australia, and applied a candidate gene approach to explain the majority of the geographically structured phenotypic variation. More melanized populations from higher latitudes tended to express less ebony than their tropical counterparts, and an independent artificial selection experiment confirmed this association. By partitioning temperature dependent effects, we showed that the genetic differences underlying clinal patterns for trident variation at 25°C do not explain the patterns observed at 16°C. Changes in thoracic trident pigmentation could be a common evolutionary response to climatically mediated environmental pressures. On the Australian east coast most of the changes appear to be associated with regulatory divergence of the ebony gene but this depends on temperature.

Datasets

  • 37 Telonis-Scott et al. 2011, Raw PCR Data

    This data file contains the raw realtime PCR results for ebony expression in females at two rearing temperatures from 18 Drosophila melanogaster populations collected in 2008. The Twodeltacp is the normalised ebony transcript abundance relative to the housekeeping control RPL11. Note longitudes in data are approximate.

  • 38 Telonis-Scott et al. 2011, Raw Pigmentation Data

    This data file contains raw thoracic trident pigmentation scores for three replicates of 35 individuals of two sexes at two rearing temperatures from 18 Drosophila melanogaster populations collected in 2008. Note longitudes in data are approximate.

  • 39 Telonis-Scott et al. 2011, Average PCR Pigmentation

    This data file contains the population averages of the ebony expression data and the thoracic trident scores used for linear regression analysis in females at two rearing temperatures from 18 Drosophila melanogaster populations collected in 2008 (Fig. 2-4). Note longitudes in data are approximate.

Publication Citations

  • Telonis-Scott, Marina, Hoffmann, Ary A., and Sgrò, Carla M., 'The molecular genetics of clinal variation: a case study of ebony and thoracic trident pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster from eastern Australia', Molecular Ecology, vol. 20, no. 10, 2011, pp. 2100-2110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05089.x. Details

See also

  • Telonis-Scott, Marina, Hoffmann, Ary A., and Sgrò, Carla M., Data from: The molecular genetics of clinal variation: a case study of ebony and thoracic trident pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster from eastern Australia, Dryad Digital Repository, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8768. Details