Heat tolerance, oxidative stress response tuning, and robust gene activation in early-stage Drosophila melanogaster embryos

In organisms with complex life cycles, life stages that are most susceptible to environmental stress may determine species persistence in the face of climate change. Early embryos of Drosophila melanogaster are particularly sensitive to acute heat stress, yet tropical embryos have higher heat tolerance than temperate embryos, suggesting adaptive variation in embryonic heat tolerance. These data constitute a comparison of transcriptomic responses to heat stress among tropical and temperate embryos to elucidate the gene regulatory basis of divergence in embryonic heat tolerance.