Gene Expression Changes during Chronic Social Isolation in Drosophila melanogaster

To investigate gene expression changes in Drosophila head tissues during social isolation, we performed RNA-sequencing on fruit fly head samples obtained from male flies that have been group-reared for 7 days (Grp), isolated (single-housed) for 7 days (Iso7) and isolated (single-housed) for only 1 day (Iso1). Using differential gene expression analysis, we found a group of candidate genes that are specific to chronic social isolation: they exhibited significant gene expression change in both comparisons of “Grp vs Iso1” and “Iso1 vs Iso7”. Overall design: Heads of wild type flies with group/isolation experience were collected at ZT0.5-2. Flies of three treatment conditions were collected: socially enriched animals (group reared for 7 days, “Grp”), chronic isolation animals (isolated for 7 days, “Iso7”) and acute isolation animals (isolated for 1 day, “Iso1”). For each condition, 3 replicated samples were collected and each sample contains 200 fly heads.