Authors:

Alexandria Snyder

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About Paper:

Ectotherms like fruit flies cannot regulate their internal body temperature and instead rely on behavioral strategies to avoid temperatures outside of their optimal range. Unlike adult flies, Drosophila larvae are limited in their ability to escape unfavorable conditions, and thus, female flies, carefully select the substrate where they lay eggs to increase the survival of the progeny; however, little is known about how temperature affects this behavior in Drosophila. We developed a new 2-choice temperature assay, where gravid female flies are given a choice between substrates kept at different temperatures, and observed that Drosophila evaluate substrate temperature when choosing where to lay eggs. In addition, we investigated the preferred temperature for egg-laying in Drosophila species from different thermal environments. D. melanogaster, a cosmopolitan species, prefers 25°C over hotter or cooler temperatures. D. teissieri, from sub-Saharan tropical rainforests, strongly avoids 30°C, but does not have a preference in the cooler range. D. yakuba from African savannahs, displays an avoidance for 30°C and 15°C and lays eggs at 20-25°C. D. santomea, a species from the Sao Tomé Island, prefers 25°C over cooler temperatures, but does not show a preference in the hotter range. These results suggest that substrate temperature preference during egg-laying is species-specific, and this behavior may have adapted to match the temperature of the native environment. Finally, we found that a known thermosensor does not mediate temperature preference in egg-laying, suggesting that a novel thermosensory circuit is likely involved in this behavior. COMPS HT SST OH OHOCHOHC TMT OHOOSCOHSOSOCOHSTSS COC SSS SOC OHSS OCOCSOCSGO DFDDDDDIDIDDIDDHADDHHDDHDDDHDDIDDDHFHDHIDSDDIIBO

Source:

Northwestern University

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Co-authors:

Alexandria Snyder