TEMPERATURE-RELATED DIVERGENCE IN EXPERIMENTAL POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. I. GENETIC AND DEVELOPMENTAL BASIS OF WING SIZE AND SHAPE VARIATION

Sandro Cavicchi ¹, Daniela Guerra ¹, Gianfranco Giorgi ¹, and Cristina Pezzoli ¹

¹ Istituto di Genetica, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy

The effects of environmental temperature on wing size and shape of Drosophila melanogaster were analyzed in populations derived from an Oregon laboratory strain kept at three temperatures (18°, 25°, 28°) for 4 yr. Temperature-directed selection was identified for both wing size and shape. The length of the four longitudinal veins, used as a test for wing size variations in the different populations, appears to be affected by both genetic and maternal influences. Vein expression appears to be dependent upon developmental pattern of the wing: veins belonging to the same compartment are coordinated in their expression and relative position, whereas veins belonging to different compartments are not. Both wing and cell areas show genetic divergence, particularly in the posterior compartment. Cell number seems to compensate for cell size variations. Such compensation is carried out both at the level of single organisms and at the level of population as a whole. The two compartments behave as individual units of selection.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Kelty and R. Lee Jr Rapid cold-hardening of Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophiladae) during ecologically based thermoperiodic cycles J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2001; 204(9): 1659 - 1666. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Lerman and M. Feder Laboratory selection at different temperatures modifies heat-shock transcription factor (HSF) activation in Drosophila melanogaster J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2001; 204(2): 315 - 323. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. S. Gilchrist and L. Partridge A Comparison of the Genetic Basis of Wing Size Divergence in Three Parallel Body Size Clines of Drosophila melanogaster Genetics, December 1, 1999; 153(4): 1775 - 1787. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				D. Stern and D. Emlen The developmental basis for allometry in insects Development, January 3, 1999; 126(6): 1091 - 1101. [Abstract] [PDF]