Université de Fribourg

Evolutionary genomics can improve prediction of species’ responses to climate change

Waldvogel, Ann-Marie ; Feldmeyer, Barbara ; Rolshausen, Gregor ; Exposito-Alonso, Moises ; Rellstab, Christian ; Kofler, Robert ; Mock, Thomas ; Schmid, Karl ; Schmitt, Imke ; Bataillon, Thomas ; Savolainen, Outi ; Bergland, Alan ; Flatt, Thomas ; Guillaume, Frederic ; Pfenninger, Markus

In: Evolution Letters, 2020, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 4–18

Global climate change (GCC) increasingly threatens biodiversity through the loss of species, and the transformation of entire ecosystems. Many species are challenged by the pace of GCC because they might not be able to respond fast enough to changing biotic and abiotic conditions. Species can respond either by shifting their range, or by persisting in their local habitat. If populations...

Université de Fribourg

Transcriptome analysis reveals a major impact of JAK protein tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2) on the expression of interferon-responsive and metabolic genes

Vogl, Claus ; Flatt, Thomas ; Fuhrmann, Bernd ; Hofmann, Elisabeth ; Wallner, Barbara ; Stiefvater, Rita ; Kovarik, Pavel ; Strobl, Birgit ; Müller, Mathias

In: BMC Genomics, 2010, vol. 11, no. 199, p. 1-19

Background: Tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2), a central component of Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling, has major effects on innate immunity and inflammation. Mice lacking Tyk2 are resistant to endotoxin shock induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and Tyk2 deficient macrophages fail to efficiently induce interferon alpha/beta after LPS treatment....

Université de Fribourg

Size and shape: the developmental regulation of static allometry in insects

Shingleton, Alexander W. ; Frankino, W. Anthony ; Flatt, Thomas ; Nijhout, H. Frederik ; Emlen, Douglas J.

In: BioEssays, 2007, vol. 29, no. 6, p. 536-548

Among all organisms, the size of each body part or organ scales with overall body size, a phenomenon called allometry. The study of shape and form has attracted enormous interest from biologists, but the genetic, developmental and physiological mechanisms that control allometry and the proportional growth of parts have remained elusive. Recent progress in our understanding of body‐size...

Université de Fribourg

Ecdysone triggered PGRP‐LC expression controls Drosophila innate immunity

Rus, Florentina ; Flatt, Thomas ; Tong, Mei ; Aggarwal, Kamna ; Okuda, Kendi ; Kleino, Anni ; Yates, Elisabeth ; Tatar, Marc ; Silverman, Neal

In: The EMBO Journal, 2013, vol. 32, no. 11, p. 1626–1638

Throughout the animal kingdom, steroid hormones have been implicated in the defense against microbial infection, but how these systemic signals control immunity is unclear. Here, we show that the steroid hormone ecdysone controls the expression of the pattern recognition receptor PGRP‐LC in Drosophila, thereby tightly regulating innate immune recognition and defense against bacterial...

Université de Fribourg

Endocrine uncoupling of the trade-off between reproduction and somatic maintenance in eusocial insects

Rodrigues, Marisa A. ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Current Opinion in Insect Science, 2016, vol. 16, p. 1–8

In most animals reproduction trades off with somatic maintenance and survival. Physiologically this trade-off is mediated by hormones with opposite effects on reproduction and maintenance. In many insects, this regulation is achieved by an endocrine network that integrates insulin-like/IGF-1 signaling (IIS), juvenile hormone (JH), and the yolk precursor vitellogenin (Vg) (or, more generally,...

Université de Fribourg

The influence of ant-attendance on aphid behaviour investigated with the electrical penetration graph technique

Rauch, Gisep ; Simon, Jean-Christophe ; Chaubet, Bernard ; Haack, Lucie ; Flatt, Thomas ; Weisser, Wolfgang W.

In: Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 2002, no. 102, p. 13-20

For themutualistic interaction between the aphidMetopeurum fuscoviride Stroyan (Homoptera:Aphididae) and the ant Lasius niger L. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) it has been shown that ant-tended aphids develop faster, reproduce at a higher rate, and live longer than aphids not tended by ants. We used electrical penetration graphs (EPG) to investigate if behavioural patterns differ between...

Université de Fribourg

Altering the temporal regulation of one transcription factor drives evolutionary trade-offs between head sensory organs

Ramaekers, Ariane ; Claeys, Annelies ; Kapun, Martin ; Mouchel-Vielh, Emmanuèle ; Potier, Delphine ; Weinberger, Simon ; Grillenzoni, Nicola ; Dardalhon-Cuménal, Delphine ; Yan, Jiekun ; Wolf, Reinhard ; Flatt, Thomas ; Buchner, Erich ; Hassan, Bassem A.

In: Developmental Cell, 2019, vol. 50, no. 6, p. 780-792.e7

Size trade-offs of visual versus olfactory organs is a pervasive feature of animal evolution. This could result from genetic or functional constraints. We demonstrate that head sensory organ size trade-offs in Drosophila are genetically encoded and arise through differential subdivision of the head primordium into visual versus non- visual fields. We discover that changes in the temporal...

Université de Fribourg

Adaptation of Drosophila to a novel laboratory environment reveals temporally heterogeneous trajectories of selected alleles

Orozco‐Terwengel, Pablo ; Kapun, Martin ; Nolte, Viola ; Kofler, Robert ; Flatt, Thomas ; Schlötterer, Christian

In: Molecular Ecology, 2012, vol. 21, no. 20, p. 4931–4941

The genomic basis of adaptation to novel environments is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology that has gained additional importance in the light of the recent global change discussion. Here, we combined laboratory natural selection (experimental evolution) in Drosophila melanogaster with genome‐wide next generation sequencing of DNA pools (Pool‐Seq) to identify alleles that are...

Université de Fribourg

Counting calories in Drosophila diet restriction

Min, Kyung-Jin ; Flatt, Thomas ; Kulaots, Indrek ; Tatar, Marc

In: Experimental Gerontology, 2006, vol. 42, no. 3, p. 247-251

The extension of life span by diet restriction in Drosophila has been argued to occur without limiting calories. Here we directly measure the calories assimilated by flies when maintained on full- and restricted-diets. We find that caloric intake is reduced on all diets that extend life span. Flies on low-yeast diet are long-lived and consume about half the calories of flies on high-yeast diets,...