BIO

I am currently a Junior at Florida State University persuing a career in optometry. I am currently working under Dr. Kimberly A. Hughes in the Department of Biological Sciences mapping the Dopamine Synthesis Pathway of Drosophila melanogaster. I work as an opthalmic technician and a medical scribe at The Eye Associates in Sarastoa, Florida.

The Correlation Between Cuticle Coloration and Negative Geotaxis in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

One long standing question in evolutionary biology is whether single genes that control multiple traits (pleiotropy) results in limitations on adaptive evolution. If it does, then our ability to predict adaptation (e.g., in the face of changing environments) is compromised. We are using a much-discussed correlation between body coloration and aggressive behavior as a system to address this question. Having found the predicted genetic correlation between cuticle color and aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster using artificial selection (unpublished data), we then asked if any other behaviors co-evolved under selection on cuticle color. For example, the dopamine synthesis pathway is plausibly related to color, aggression, and other behaviors, such as geotaxis level. Negative geotaxis is the movement of individuals against gravity. This is a measure for general activity and motor development. Efficiency of geotaxis has been used to measure movement ability, with a slower rate of geotaxis associated with a loss of motor development and neurodegeneration. We therefore measured geotaxis ability of flies (D. melanogaster) selected for darker and lighter cuticle color. To measure geotaxis, flies are placed in a vertically sealed tube and timed for how quickly they climb to a predetermined mark at 3 inches from the bottom of the tube. Results suggest that time to climb to the top of the tube is faster in the dark-selected lines, suggesting that genetic correlations do constrain the independent evolution of cuticle color and behavior.

Keywords: Drosophila melanogaster, Negative geotaxis, ecology