Effects of mycotoxin treatment on fly survival, development time, thorax length, fecundity, and longevity in four mycophagous Drosophila species

Many mycophagous Drosophila species have adapted to tolerate high concentrations of mycotoxins, an ability not reported in any other eukaryotes. Although an association between mycophagy and mycotoxin tolerance has been established in many Drosophila species, the genetic mechanisms of the tolerance are unknown. This study presents the inter- and intraspecific variation in the mycotoxin tolerance trait. We studied the mycotoxin tolerance in four Drosophila species from four separate clades within the immigrans-tripunctata radiation from two distinct locations. The effect of mycotoxin treatment on 20 isofemale lines per species was studied using seven gross phenotypes: survival to pupation, survival to eclosion, development time to pupation and eclosion, thorax length, fecundity, and longevity. We observed interspecific variation among four species, with D. falleni being the most tolerant, followed by D. recens, D. neotestacea, and D. tripunctata, in that order. The results also revealed ..., Fly isofemale lines
Four species were included in this study: D. falleni, D. recens, D. neotestacea, and D. tripunctata. Adult flies were collected by net sweeping on fermented banana baits, tomato baits, and mushroom baits over the summer months of 2017-2019 from two distant locations: Great Smoky Mountain National Park near Gatlinburg, TN (hereafter referred to as GSM) and Little Bay de Noc in Escanaba in The Upper Peninsula of Michigan (hereafter referred to as ESC). These two sites are approximately 1400 km apart. Multiple sites were used for fly collection within each location spanning over 3-5 square kilometers. The species and the sex of the captured flies were identified, and isofemale lines were set up by adding one wild-caught female with one wild-caught male from the same species and location and collecting their progeny (David 2005). The established isofemale lines were maintained on a diet of Carolina Biological Formula 4- 24 Instant Drosophila Medium supplemented with fine..., R version 3.6.1 (https://www.r-project.org/foundation/)
R Studio version 2021.09.2+382 (https://www.rstudio.com/).
lme4 (Bates et al. 2015)