Université de Fribourg

A clinal polymorphism in the insulin signaling transcription factor foxo contributes to life-history adaptation in Drosophila*

Durmaz, Esra ; Rajpurohit, Subhash ; Betancourt, Nicolas ; Fabian, Daniel K. ; Kapun, Martin ; Schmidt, Paul ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Evolution, 2019, vol. 73, no. 9, p. 1774–1792

A fundamental aim of adaptation genomics is to identify polymorphisms that underpin variation in fitness traits. In Drosophila melanogaster, latitudinal life‐history clines exist on multiple continents and make an excellent system for dissecting the genetics of adaptation. We have previously identified numerous clinal single‐nucleotide polymorphism in insulin/insulin‐like growth factor...

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

The adaptive significance of chromosomal inversion polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster

Kapun, Martin ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Molecular Ecology, 2019, vol. 28, no. 6, p. 1263–1282

Chromosomal inversions, structural mutations that reverse a segment of a chromosome, cause suppression of recombination in the heterozygous state. Several studies have shown that inversion polymorphisms can form clines or fluctuate predictably in frequency over seasonal time spans. These observations prompted the hypothesis that chromosomal rearrangements might be subject to spatially and/or ...

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

Genomic evidence for adaptive inversion clines in Drosophila melanogaster

Kapun, Martin ; Fabian, Daniel K. ; Goudet, Jérôme ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2016, vol. 33, no. 5, p. 1317–1336

Clines in chromosomal inversion polymorphisms—presumably driven by climatic gradients—are common but there is surprisingly little evidence for selection acting on them. Here we address this long-standing issue in Drosophila melanogaster by using diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to estimate inversion frequencies from 28 whole-genome Pool-seq samples collected from 10...

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

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...

Université de Fribourg

An inversion supergene in Drosophila underpins latitudinal clines in survival traits

Durmaz, Esra ; Benson, Clare ; Kapun, Martin ; Schmidt, Paul ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2018, vol. 31, no. 9, p. 1354–1364

Chromosomal inversions often contribute to local adaptation across latitudinal clines, but the underlying selective mechanisms remain poorly understood. We and others have previously shown that a clinal inversion polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster, In(3R)Payne, underpins body size clines along the North American and Australian east coasts. Here, we ask whether this polymorphism also...