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  • Title: Direct and correlated responses to laboratory selection for body melanisation in Drosophila melanogaster: support for the melanisation-desiccation resistance hypothesis.
    Author: Ramniwas S, Kajla B, Dev K, Parkash R.
    Journal: J Exp Biol; 2013 Apr 01; 216(Pt 7):1244-54. PubMed ID: 23239892.
    Abstract:
    For Drosophila melanogaster, cuticular melanisation is a quantitative trait, varying from no melanin to completely dark. Variation in melanisation has been linked with stress resistance, especially desiccation, in D. melanogaster and other species. As melanism has a genetic component, we selected melanic and non-melanic phenotypes of D. melanogaster in order to confirm the association of desiccation resistance and rate of water loss with cuticular melanisation previously reported for this species. A bidirectional selection experiment for dark (D1-D4) and light (L1-L4) body colour in D. melanogaster was conducted for 60 generations. We observed a 1.6-fold increase in abdominal melanisation in selected dark strains and a 14-fold decrease in selected light strains compared with control populations. Desiccation resistance increased significantly in the dark-selected morphs as compared with controls. The observed increase in desiccation resistance appeared as a consequence of a decrease in cuticular permeability. Our results show that traits related to water balance were significantly correlated with abdominal melanisation and were simultaneously selected bidirectionally along with melanisation.
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