Genome-wide sequencing and an open reading frame analysis of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) susceptible (91-C) and resistant (91-R) Drosophila melanogaster laboratory populations

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 10;9(6):e98584. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098584. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The Drosophila melanogaster 91-R and 91-C strains are of common origin, however, 91-R has been intensely selected for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) resistance over six decades while 91-C has been maintained as the non-selected control strain. These fly strains represent a unique genetic resource to understand the accumulation and fixation of mutations under laboratory conditions over decades of pesticide selection. Considerable research has been done to investigate the differential expression of genes associated with the highly DDT resistant strain 91-R, however, with the advent of whole genome sequencing we can now begin to develop an in depth understanding of the genomic changes associated with this intense decades-long xenobiotic selection pressure. Here we present the first whole genome sequencing analysis of the 91-R and 91-C fly strains to identify genome-wide structural changes within the open reading frames. Between-strain changes in allele frequencies revealed a higher percent of new alleles going to fixation for the 91-R strain, as compared to 91-C (P<0.0001). These results suggest that resistance to DDT in the 91-R laboratory strain could potentially be due primarily to new mutations, as well as being polygenic rather than the result of a few major mutations, two hypotheses that remain to be tested.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Amino Acid Substitution
  • Animals
  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Chromosomes, Insect
  • DDT / pharmacology*
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics*
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism
  • Drosophila melanogaster / drug effects*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / genetics*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / metabolism
  • Drug Resistance / genetics*
  • Female
  • Genome, Insect
  • Genome-Wide Association Study*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Male
  • Mutation
  • Open Reading Frames*
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins
  • DDT

Grants and funding

This work was primarily funded by the C.W. Kearns, C.L. Metcalf and W.P. Flint Endowment. Additional funding support came from the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS; Appropriated CRIS Project 3625-22000-017-00) and the Iowa State University Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, IA (Project 3543). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.