THE EFFECT OF CHROMOSOMAL

INVERSION CLINES AND FOOD

ON THE DISPERSIVE BEHAVIOUR
OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
Alexander J. Simpkin
Supervised by Daniela Santos Nunes
 Background

■ Inversions are a structural mutations which is a reversal

of the gene order with respect to the genomic region
(Fabian et al., 2012; Kapun et al., 2016).
■ Chromosomal inversions are more
abundant in warmer and drier
conditions (Umina et al., 2005; Figure 1).

Figure 1, The site of the sampled polymorphism of

D. melanogaster (Fabian et al., 2012).
 Background

■ Factors that influence dispersion include availability of food, mates and the
population density of the D. melanogaster (Simon et al., 2011).
■ Organisms are more likely to move to a new territory
if there is more food in the new location, if the flies
have already mated are an in search
for other mates (Simon et al., 2011).
 Objectives of the Experiment

■ To determine whether inversions effect the dispersion of

Drosophila melanogaster.
■ To determine the effect of food availability on the dispersive
behaviour.
 Materials & Methodology
■ This experiment will involves 24 strains of D. melanogaster and divided either
by karyotype (12 standards and 12 inverted) and marked with a dye (Figure 2;
Figure 3).
■ Each vial will contain 480 D. melanogaster (240 standard and 240 inverted).

Vial 1 No. of Flies Vial 2 No. of Flies

Florida Standard - Blue (12 x 10) = Male Florida Standard - ø (12 x 10) = Male
(12 x 10) = Female (12 x 10) = Female

Florida Inverted - ø (12 x 10) = Male Florida Inverted - Blue (12 x 10) = Male
(12 x 10) = Female (12 x 10) = Female

Tota 480 480

l

Figure 2 Table of the methodology, the experiment has to be duplicated encase the food dye
influences dispersive behaviour.
 Materials & Methodology

■ When testing the effect of food availability, there will be three

variations.
■ Food in original vial and no food at higher temperature.
■ Equal amounts of food at both temperatures.
■ Less food in original vial and more food at higher temperature
■ A digestible dye will be used to distinguish
between the karyotype (Figure 2).
.

Figure 3, Comparison of dyed and

non-dyed flies (Yu, 2012).

 Materials & Methodology

■ On day four, the vial containing the Drosophila at 25°C will be connected to
another vial submersed into a water bath at a higher temperature (32°C ).
■ After 24 hours, the number of dyed and normal flies are counted in the
warmer vials (Figure 4).
A T-test will analysis the dispersion of
Drosophila.
The interaction of polymorphism and
food availability will be tested with a
three-way anova.
Figure 4, A diagram of the experimental
layout.
 References
■ Breed, M. and Moore, J., 2016. Animal Behaviour, 2nd Ed. Oxford: Elsevier Inc.
■ Fabian, D.K., Kapun, M., Nolte, V., Kofler, R., Schmidt, P.S., Schlötterer, C. and Flatt, T., 2012. Genome‐
wide patterns of latitudinal differentiation among populations of Drosophila melanogaster from North
America. Molecular ecology, 21(19), pp.4748-4769.
■ Kapun, M., Fabian, D.K., Goudet, J. and Flatt, T., 2016. Genomic evidence for adaptive inversion clines in
Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular biology and evolution, 33(5), pp.1317-1336.
■ Knibb, W.R., 1982. Chromosome inversion polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster II. Geographic
clines and climatic associations in Australasia, North America and Asia. Genetica, 58(3), pp.213-221.
■ Simon, J.C., Dickson, W.B. and Dickinson, M.H., 2011. Prior mating experience modulates the dispersal of
Drosophila in males more than in females. Behavior genetics, 41(5), pp.754-767.
■ Umina, P.A., Weeks, A.R., Kearney, M.R., McKechnie, S.W. and Hoffmann, A.A., 2005. A rapid shift in a
classic clinal pattern in Drosophila reflecting climate change. Science, 308(5722), pp.691-693.
■ Yu, K., 2012. Discovery of a Key Gene That Regulates Appetite and the Controlling Mechanism. Plos
Genetics online edition. Retrieved 27/3/2017, from
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