Université de Fribourg

Evolution in group-structured populations can resolve the tragedy of the commons

Killingback, Timothy ; Bieri, Jonas ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Proceeding of the Royal Society, 2006, no. 273, p. 1477–1481

Public goods are the key features of all human societies and are also important in many animal societies. Collaborative hunting and collective defence are but two examples of public goods that have played a crucial role in the development of human societies and still play an important role in many animal societies. Public goods allow societies composed largely of cooperators to outperform...

Université de Fribourg

Reproductive and post-reproductive life history of wild-caught Drosophila melanogaster under laboratory conditions

Klepsatel, P. ; Gáliková, M. ; De Maio, N. ; Ricci, S. ; Schlötterer, C. ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2013, vol. 26, no. 7, p. 1508–1520

The life history of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is well understood, but fitness components are rarely measured by following single individuals over their lifetime, thereby limiting insights into lifetime reproductive success, reproductive senescence and post‐reproductive lifespan. Moreover, most studies have examined long‐ established laboratory strains rather than freshly...

Université de Fribourg

The genomic and physiological basis of life history variation in a butterfly metapopulation

Klepsatel, Peter ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Molecular Ecology, 2011, vol. 20, no. 9, p. 1795-1798

Unravelling the mechanisms underlying variation in life history traits is of fundamental importance for our understanding of adaptation by natural selection. While progress has been made in mapping fitness-related phenotypes to genotypes, mainly in a handful of model organisms, functional genomic studies of life history adaptations are still in their infancy. In particular, despite a few...

Université de Fribourg

Similarities and differences in altitudinal versus latitudinal variation for morphological traits in Drosophila melanogaster

Klepsatel, Peter ; Gáliková, Martina ; Huber, Christian D. ; Flatt, Thomas

In: Evolution, 2014, vol. 68, no. 5, p. 1385–1398

Understanding how natural environments shape phenotypic variation is a major aim in evolutionary biology. Here, we have examined clinal, likely genetically based variation in morphology among 19 populations of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) from Africa and Europe, spanning a range from sea level to 3000 m altitude and including locations approximating the southern and northern range...

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

Adaptation to fluctuating environments in a selection experiment with Drosophila melanogaster

Kubrak, Olga I. ; Nylin, Sören ; Flatt, Thomas ; Nässel, Dick R. ; Leimar, Olof

In: Ecology and Evolution, 2017, vol. 7, no. 11, p. 3796–3807

A fundamental question in life‐history evolution is how organisms cope with fluctuating environments, including variation between stressful and benign conditions. For short‐ lived organisms, environments commonly vary between generations. Using a novel experimental design, we exposed wild‐derived Drosophila melanogaster to three different selection regimes: one where generations...

Université de Fribourg

Adaptation to developmental diet influences the response to selection on age at reproduction in the fruit fly

May, Christina M. ; Heuvel, Joost van den ; Doroszuk, Agnieszka ; Hoedjes, Katja M. ; Flatt, Thomas ; Zwaan, Bas J.

In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2019, vol. 32, no. 5, p. 425–437

Experimental evolution (EE) is a powerful tool for addressing how environmental factors influence life‐history evolution. While in nature different selection pressures experienced across the lifespan shape life histories, EE studies typically apply selection pressures one at a time. Here, we assess the consequences of adaptation to three different developmental diets in combination with...

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,...

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

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...