Genetic variation in mating-induced transcriptional responses in wild-type-derived strains of Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila melanogaster

Mating and transfer of male Sex Peptide causes a number of physiological changes in the female fly, including increased egg production, decreased immune function and shortened life span. A panel of wild-type- derived strains of Drosophila melanogaster was used to assay the transcriptional changes in response to mating. The data represents whole transcriptome profiling of female heads before (Virgin) and after mating (Mated). RNA-Seq data was generated for the F1-heterozygous progeny resulting from crosses between inbred wild-type- derived strains and a common tester strain w[1118]. Virgin females from naturally-derived strains were crossed to males of the w[1118] tester strain to generate hybrid virgin female progeny. Half of these hybrid females were assayed as virgins at age 10 days, whereas the other half were mated to w[1118] males at a ratio of 30 virgins to 10 males per vial for 24 hours at age 4 days, and then assayed at age 10 days. The analysis of RNA-Seq data revealed significant upregulation of hundreds of genes in response to mating across the various genotypes. Most of the upregulated genes are expressed in female fat body, indicating significant shifts in metabolic pathways of mated females. Interestingly, while the sets of differentially expressed genes were highly concordant across different populations and strains, considerable variation was observed in the average magnitudes of transcriptional changes. This dataset was also used to characterize natural genetic variation in selected transcriptional traits, including allele-specific expression, splicing patterns and RNA-editing.

雄性性肽（Sex Peptide）的交配传递会诱导雌果蝇产生多种生理变化，包括产卵量增加、免疫功能衰退以及寿命缩短。本研究采用一组野生型来源的黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）品系，用于分析交配诱导的转录组变化。本次数据为雌蝇头部在交配前（处女雌蝇，Virgin）与交配后（已交配雌蝇，Mated）的全转录组分析结果。RNA测序（RNA-Seq）数据来源于近交野生型品系与通用测试品系w[1118]杂交得到的F1杂合后代。将自然来源品系的处女雌蝇与w[1118]测试品系雄蝇杂交，获得杂交处女雌蝇后代。将这批杂交雌蝇分为两组：一半在10日龄时以处女状态接受检测；另一半于4日龄时按每管30只处女雌蝇与10只雄蝇的比例交配24小时，随后在10日龄时完成检测。RNA-Seq数据分析显示，在不同基因型个体中，数百个基因在交配后显著上调。大多数上调基因在雌蝇脂肪体中表达，提示交配雌蝇的代谢通路发生显著重塑。值得注意的是，尽管不同种群与品系间的差异表达基因集合高度一致，但转录变化的平均幅度存在显著差异。本数据集还被用于表征选定转录性状的自然遗传变异，包括等位基因特异性表达、剪接模式与RNA编辑（RNA-editing）。