Université de Fribourg

Host range and Specificity of the Drosophila C Virus

Kapun, Martin ; Nolte, Viola ; Flatt, Thomas ; Schlötterer, Christian

In: PLoS ONE, 2010, vol. 5, no. 8, p. 1-5

Background: The Drosophila C virus (DCV) is a common and well-studied Drosophila pathogen. Although natural infections are known from Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans, and artificial infections have been reported from several. Drosophila species and other insects, it remains unclear to date whether DCV infections also occur naturally in other Drosophila species. Methods/Principal Findings:...

Université de Fribourg

Inference of chromosomal inversion dynamics from Pool-Seq data in natural and laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Kapun, Martin ; van Schalkwyk, Hester ; McAllister, Bryant ; Flatt, Thomas ; Schlötterer, Christian

In: Molecular Ecology, 2014, vol. 23, no. 7, p. 1813–1827

Sequencing of pools of individuals (Pool‐Seq) represents a reliable and cost‐effective approach for estimating genome‐wide SNP and transposable element insertion frequencies. However, Pool‐Seq does not provide direct information on haplotypes so that, for example, obtaining inversion frequencies has not been possible until now. Here, we have developed a new set of diagnostic marker...

Université de Fribourg

Variation in thermal performance and reaction norms among populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Klepsatel, Peter ; Gáliková, Martina ; De Maio, Nicola ; Huber, Christian D. ; Schlötterer, Christian ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Evolution, 2013, vol. 67, no. 12, p. 3573–3587

The major goal of evolutionary thermal biology is to understand how variation in temperature shapes phenotypic evolution. Comparing thermal reaction norms among populations from different thermal environments allows us to gain insights into the evolutionary mechanisms underlying thermal adaptation. Here, we have examined thermal adaptation in six wild populations of the fruit fly (Drosophila...

Université de Fribourg

Genome-wide patterns of latitudinal differentiation among populations of Drosophila melanogaster from North America

Fabian, Daniel K. ; Kapun, Martin ; Nolte, Viola ; Kofler, Robert ; Schmidt, Paul S. ; Schlötterer, Christian ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Molecular Ecology, 2012, vol. 21, no. 19, p. 4748–4769

Understanding the genetic underpinnings of adaptive change is a fundamental but largely unresolved problem in evolutionary biology. Drosophila melanogaster, an ancestrally tropical insect that has spread to temperate regions and become cosmopolitan, offers a powerful opportunity for identifying the molecular polymorphisms underlying clinal adaptation. Here, we use genome‐wide next‐...

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

Evolution of longevity improves immunity in Drosophila

Fabian, Daniel K. ; Garschall, Kathrin ; Klepsatel, Peter ; Santos-Matos, Gonçalo ; Sucena, Élio ; Kapun, Martin ; Lemaitre, Bruno ; Schlötterer, Christian ; Arking, Robert ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Evolution Letters, 2018, vol. 2, no. 6, p. 567–579

Much has been learned about the genetics of aging from studies in model organisms, but still little is known about naturally occurring alleles that contribute to variation in longevity. For example, analysis of mutants and transgenes has identified insulin signaling as a major regulator of longevity, yet whether standing variation in this pathway underlies microevolutionary changes in...