15 Ergebnisse
We use annotated genomes of fourteen Drosophila species covering diverse host use phenotypes to test whether five gene families which often have detoxification functions are associated with host shifts among species. Bark, slime flux, flower and generalist necrotic fruit feeding species all have
Microbial detoxification of plant toxins influences the use of plants as food sources by herbivores. Stephen's woodrats (Neotoma stephensi) specialize on juniper, which is defended by oxalate, phenolics and monoterpenes, while closely related N. albigula specialize on cactus, which only contains
Several species of columnar cacti in the Sonoran Desert contain isoquinoline alkaloids that are toxic to all but the resident drosophilids that feed and breed in necrotic stems. Cytochrome P450 enzymes are known to be involved in the metabolic detoxification of these alkaloids by the desert
The cytochrome P-450 family of enzymes is the primary means of foreign compound detoxification in virtually all organisms. Cytochrome P-450s have been strongly implicated in the metabolism of cactus alkaloids, and consequently, the observed patterns of host plant utilization by cactophilic species
BACKGROUND
Studies of insect-plant interactions have provided critical insights into the ecology and evolution of adaptive processes within and among species. Cactophilic Drosophila species have received much attention because larval development occurs in the necrotic tissues of cacti, and both
Relationships between an organism and its environment can be fundamental in the understanding how populations change over time and species arise. Local ecological conditions can shape variation at multiple levels, among these are the evolutionary history and trajectories of coding Pereskia bleo, a leafy cactus, is a medicinal plant native to West and South America and distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. It is traditionally used as a dietary vegetable, barrier hedge, water purifier, and insect repellant and for maintaining health, detoxification, prevention of
Although the importance of host plant chemistry in plant-insect interactions is widely accepted, the genetic basis of adaptation to host plants is not well understood. Here, we investigate transcriptional changes associated with a host plant shift in Drosophila mettleri. While D. mettleri is
Understanding the genetic basis of adaptation to novel environments remains one of the major challenges confronting evolutionary biologists. While newly developed genomic approaches hold considerable promise for addressing this overall question, the relevant tools have not often been available in
GSTD1 is an insect glutathione S-transferase that has received considerable attention because of its role in detoxification of xenobiotic compounds, specifically pesticides and plant allelochemicals involved in detoxification, or in the use of some substrates as a nutritional source. GSTD1 has been
Understanding the genetic basis of adaptation is one of the primary goals of evolutionary biology. The evolution of xenobiotic resistance in insects has proven to be an especially suitable arena for studying the genetics of adaptation, and resistant phenotypes are known to result from both coding
Host plant shifts in herbivorous insects often involve facing new environments that may speed up the evolution of oviposition behavior, performance related traits, morphology and, incidentally, reproductive isolation. In the genus Drosophila, cactophilic species of the repleta group include
High-throughput transcriptome studies are breaking new ground to investigate the responses that organisms deploy in alternative environments. Nevertheless, much remains to be understood about the genetic basis of host plant adaptation. Here, we investigate genome-wide expression in the fly
The mutualistic interactions of cactophilicDrosophila and their associated yeasts in the Sonoran Desert are studied as a system which has evolved within the framework of their host cactus stem chemistry. Because theDrosophila-yeast system is saphrophytic, their responses are not thought to directly
The liver is one of the most important organs in the body, performing a fundamental role in the regulation of diverse processes, among which the metabolism, secretion, storage, and detoxification of endogenous and exogenous substances are prominent. Due to these functions, hepatic diseases continue