Characterization of Reproductive Dormancy in Male Drosophila melanogaster
Insects are known to respond to seasonal and adverse environmental changes by entering dormancy, also known as diapause. In some insect species, including , dormancy occurs in the adult organism and postpones reproduction. This adult dormancy has been studied in female flies where it is characterize...
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Published in | Frontiers in physiology Vol. 7; p. 572 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
24.11.2016
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Insects are known to respond to seasonal and adverse environmental changes by entering dormancy, also known as diapause. In some insect species, including
, dormancy occurs in the adult organism and postpones reproduction. This adult dormancy has been studied in female flies where it is characterized by arrested development of ovaries, altered nutrient stores, lowered metabolism, increased stress and immune resistance and drastically extended lifespan. Male dormancy, however, has not been investigated in
, and its physiology is poorly known in most insects. Here we show that unmated 3-6 h old male flies placed at low temperature (11°C) and short photoperiod (10 Light:14 Dark) enter a state of dormancy with arrested spermatogenesis and development of testes and male accessory glands. Over 3 weeks of diapause we see a dynamic increase in stored carbohydrates and an initial increase and then a decrease in lipids. We also note an up-regulated expression of genes involved in metabolism, stress responses and innate immunity. Interestingly, we found that male flies that entered reproductive dormancy do not attempt to mate females kept under non-diapause conditions (25°C, 12L:12D), and conversely non-diapausing males do not mate females in dormancy. In summary, our study shows that male
can enter reproductive dormancy. However, our data suggest that dormant male flies deplete stored nutrients faster than females, studied earlier, and that males take longer to recover reproductive capacity after reintroduction to non-diapause conditions. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 This article was submitted to Invertebrate Physiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Physiology Edited by: Elzbieta M. Pyza, Jagiellonian University, Poland Reviewed by: Ralf Heinrich, University of Göttingen, Germany; Rodolfo Costa, University of Padua, Italy; David L. Denlinger, Ohio State University, USA Present Address: Lucie Kučerová, Biology Center, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic |
ISSN: | 1664-042X 1664-042X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fphys.2016.00572 |