Data from: Adaptive dynamics of cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are hydrophobic compounds deposited on the arthropod cuticle that are of functional significance with respect to stress tolerance, social interactions, and mating dynamics. We characterized CHC profiles in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster at five levels: across a latitudinal transect in the eastern U.S., as a function of developmental temperature during culture, across seasonal time in replicate years, and as a function of rapid evolution in experimental mesocosms in the field. Furthermore, we also characterized spatial and temporal change in allele frequencies for SNPs in genes that are associated with the production and chemical profile of CHCs. Our data demonstrate a striking degree of parallelism for clinal and seasonal variation in CHCs in this taxon; CHC profiles also demonstrate significant plasticity in response to rearing temperature, and the observed patterns of plasticity parallel the spatiotemporal patterns observed in nature. We find that these congruent shifts in CHC profiles across time and space are also mirrored by predictable shifts in allele frequencies at SNPs associated with CHC chain length. Finally, we observed rapid and predictable evolution of CHC profiles in experimental mesocosms in the field. Together, these data strongly suggest that CHC profiles respond rapidly and adaptively to environmental parameters that covary with latitude and season, and that this response reflects the process of local adaptation in natural populations of D. melanogaster.

表皮碳氢化合物（Cuticular hydrocarbons, CHCs）是一类沉积于节肢动物体表角质层的疏水化合物，在胁迫耐受、社会互动及交配动态等方面具有重要功能意义。本研究从五个维度对黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）自然种群的表皮碳氢化合物谱进行了表征：美国东部沿纬度梯度的分布差异、饲养过程中发育温度的影响、重复年份下的季节动态变化，以及野外实验中型生态系统中的快速进化效应。此外，我们还对与表皮碳氢化合物合成及化学谱特征相关的基因内单核苷酸多态性（Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, SNPs）的等位基因频率时空变化进行了表征。本研究数据显示，该类群的表皮碳氢化合物谱在纬度梯度变异与季节变化上呈现出显著的平行模式；表皮碳氢化合物谱对饲养温度也表现出显著的表型可塑性，且所观测到的可塑性模式与自然环境中的时空分布模式高度一致。我们发现，表皮碳氢化合物谱在时空维度上的一致性变化，同样与表皮碳氢化合物链长相关单核苷酸多态性位点的等位基因频率可预测变化相呼应。最后，我们在野外实验中型生态系统中观测到了表皮碳氢化合物谱快速且可预测的演化过程。综合以上结果，本研究数据有力表明：表皮碳氢化合物谱可快速且适应性地响应随纬度与季节协同变化的环境因子，且该响应正是黑腹果蝇自然种群局部适应过程的直接体现。