Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on April 19, 2006.

Genetics, Vol. 173, 1329-1336, July 2006, Copyright © 2006
doi:10.1534/genetics.105.054486

Inbreeding by Environmental Interactions Affect Gene Expression in Drosophila melanogaster

Torsten Nygaard Kristensen^*,,,1,2, Peter Sørensen^,2, Kamilla Sofie Pedersen^*,, Mogens Kruhøffer and Volker Loeschcke^*

^* Aarhus Centre for Environmental Stress Research (ACES), Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, 8830 Tjele, Denmark, Department of Genetics, Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research, University of Melbourne, 3010 Victoria, Australia and Aarhus University Hospital, Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark

¹ Corresponding author: Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.
E-mail: torsten.kristensen{at}biology.au.dk

Genomewide gene expression patterns were investigated in inbred and noninbred Drosophila melanogaster lines under benign and stressful (high temperature) environmental conditions in a highly replicated experiment using Affymetrix gene chips. We found that both heat-shock protein and metabolism genes are strongly affected by temperature stress and that genes involved in metabolism are differentially expressed in inbred compared with noninbred lines, and that this effect is accentuated after heat stress exposure. Furthermore we show that inbreeding and temperature stress cause increased between-line variance in gene expression patterns. We conclude that inbreeding and environmental stress both independently and synergistically affect gene expression patterns. Interactions between inbreeding and the environment are often observed at the phenotypic level and our results reveal some of the genes that are involved at the individual gene level. Our observation of several metabolism genes being differentially expressed in inbred lines and more so after exposure to temperature stress, together with lower fitness in the investigated inbred lines, supports the hypothesis that superiority of heterozygous individuals partly derives from increased metabolic efficiency.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. S. Pedersen, T. N. Kristensen, V. Loeschcke, B. O. Petersen, J. O. Duus, N. Chr. Nielsen, and A. Malmendal Metabolomic Signatures of Inbreeding at Benign and Stressful Temperatures in Drosophila melanogaster Genetics, October 1, 2008; 180(2): 1233 - 1243. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. N Kristensen, J.S. F Barker, K. S Pedersen, and V. Loeschcke Extreme temperatures increase the deleterious consequences of inbreeding under laboratory and semi-natural conditions Proc R Soc B, September 7, 2008; 275(1646): 2055 - 2061. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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