Rapid evolution of Drosophila growth regulation

Amanda Glaser-Schmitt, Postdoc in PA 903/8-1

Relative body size has evolved rapidly across many diverse lineages, including Drosophila. In D. melanogaster, much attention has been paid to purely genetic data or experimental evolution of body size. However, genes identified in experimentally evolved populations have shown little congruence with genes contributing to body size variation in natural populations. Gene expression variation, especially developmental gene expression variation, represents an abundant resource for rapid evolutionary change and levels of gene expression are highly dynamic throughout development. However, little attention has been paid to the evolution of gene expression and gene expression dynamics during larval development, where final adult body size and proportion are largely determined.

The proposed project aims to identify genes involved in rapid body size adaptation by analyzing gene expression and dynamic gene expression divergence between an ancestral, sub-Saharan African and a derived, European population during nutrient independent growth.