QTL for survival to UV-C radiation in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate tolerance to UV-C (ultraviolet C, 280–100 nm) radiation in Drosophila melanogaster, implementing a quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping approach. This is of interest to test for genetic variation in survival to UV (ultraviolet) radiation.

Materials and methods: We performed a QTL scan in D. melanogaster recombinant inbred lines (RIL) constructed from parental stocks derived from a crossing between northern and southern hemisphere populations that segregated substantial genetic variation in thermal resistance in a previous study. Here, two experimental treatments were implemented: Continuous and cyclic UV-C radiation.

Results: Significant QTL were detected on all three major chromosomes. Among these, multiple trait composite interval mapping revealed a significant QTL in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 2, a genome region consistently implicated in thermotolerance in previous studies.

Conclusions: This study shows substantial genetic variation for UV-C radiation resistance in D. melanogaster, with QTL for survival to UV-C radiation generally overlapping with major thermotolerance QTL. The genetic architecture of UV-C radiation resistance appears to be more complex in continuously irradiated individuals.

Keywords::

• Ultraviolet radiation
• multiple trait mapping
• environmental stress
• thermotolerance

Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Declaration of interest The authors report no declaration of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This research was supported by grants from the University of Buenos Aires 20020100100310, and CONICET-Argentina (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas) PIP 11220100100160 to FMN and by frame grants from the Danish Natural Sciences Research Council (FNU 437369) to VL.