The common laboratory fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster generally does not replicate asexually, a distant species called Drosophila mercatorum that types on cacti does, in fact, have the ability to reproduce via parthenogenesis. They then engineered the corresponding genes in D. melanogaster; the lab flies then gotten the capability to reproduce asexually.
” It was genuinely stunning for us to discover how tripping a little number of genetic switches would allow virgin Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies to generate viable and fertile offspring simply like virgins of their distant Drosophila mercatorum cousins,” states Glover. “It will be crucial to understand the generality of this capability, since numerous crop insects are able to recreate in an asexual manner. Now, we d like to comprehend the molecular mechanisms underlying this cellular process in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Scientists have identified the genes that are turned on, or switched off, when these flies reproduce without daddies. Credit: Jose Casal and Peter Lawrence
Scientists have successfully caused nonsexual reproduction in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, an organism that usually reproduces sexually.
For the first time, researchers have induced nonsexual reproduction in an animal that normally reproduces sexually: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Once induced, the capability is handed down through the generations: the offspring can replicate either sexually or asexually.
A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal Current Biology. The research studys senior author is David Glover, research study professor of biology and biological engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The research was carried out by Alexis Sperling, former postdoctoral fellow in Glovers lab at the University of Cambridge and a short-term visitor to Caltech, in addition to collaborators at the University of Tennessee.
Imaging the chromosomes of a Drosophila melanogaster fly (the frequently utilized laboratory design organism) when reproducing sexually (top) and parthenogenetically (bottom). Credit: Courtesy of D. Glover
Understanding Parthenogenesis
For the majority of animals, recreation is sexual, involving a womans egg being fertilized by a males sperm. Parthenogenesis, a kind of nonsexual recreation, is the process by which an egg establishes into an embryo without fertilization by sperm– a male is not required. While the offspring are not precise clones of their mom, they are genetically very similar and always female.
Specific types of fly, locusts, and chickens really have the ability to change between sexual recreation and parthenogenesis. If there are no males around, switching to asexual reproduction can be a survival technique to keep the types going.
Drosophilas Genetic Modification
Though the typical lab fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster typically does not recreate asexually, a far-off species called Drosophila mercatorum that breeds on cacti does, in reality, have the capability to reproduce through parthenogenesis. Led by Cambridge postdoctoral scholar Alexis Sperling, the group studied D. mercatorums genome and determined the genes underlying parthenogenesis. They then engineered the corresponding genes in D. melanogaster; the laboratory flies then acquired the capability to recreate asexually.
” It was really spectacular for us to find how tripping a little number of hereditary switches would allow virgin Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies to generate fertile and practical offspring much like virgins of their distant Drosophila mercatorum cousins,” says Glover. “It will be very important to comprehend the generality of this ability, considering that numerous crop insects are able to reproduce in an asexual way. Today, we d like to comprehend the molecular mechanisms underlying this cellular procedure in Drosophila melanogaster.”
For more on this advancement, see Genetic Secret of Virgin Birth Discovered.
Thomas Hunt Morgan, who first established D. melanogaster into a model system at Caltech in the 1930s. Credit: Courtesy of the Caltech Archives
Now common laboratory animals worldwide, Drosophila melanogaster were first established as design organisms at Caltech in the 1930s by Nobel Laureate Thomas Hunt Morgan. Morgan got here at Caltech in 1928 to develop what is now Caltechs Division of Biology and Biological Engineering.
Reference: “A genetic basis for facultative parthenogenesis in Drosophila” by Alexis L. Sperling, Daniel K. Fabian, Erik Garrison and David M. Glover, 28 July 2023, Current Biology.DOI: 10.1016/ j.cub.2023.07.006.
Sperling is the research studys very first author. In addition to Sperling and Glover, co-authors are Daniel Fabian of the University of Cambridge and Erik Garrison of the University of Tennessee. Funding was supplied by the National Institutes of Health, the Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant, and the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund.