Natural alleles at theDoalocus underpin evolutionary changes inDrosophilalifespan and fecundity

Abstract

Abstract‘Evolve and resequence’ (E&R) studies inDrosophila melanogasterhave identified many candidate loci underlying the evolution of ageing and life history, but experiments that validate the effects of such candidates remain rare. In a recent E&R study we have identified several alleles of the LAMMER kinaseDarkener of apricot(Doa) as candidates for evolutionary changes in lifespan and fecundity. Here, we use two complementary approaches to confirm a functional role ofDoain life-history evolution. First, we used transgenic RNAi to study the effects ofDoaat the whole-gene level. Ubiquitous silencing of expression in adult flies reduced both lifespan and fecundity, indicating pleiotropic effects. Second, to characterize segregating variation atDoa, we examined four candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs;Doa-1, −2, −3, −4) using a genetic association approach. Three candidate SNPs had effects that were qualitatively consistent with expectations based on our E&R study:Doa-2pleiotropically affected both lifespan and late-life fecundity;Doa-1affected lifespan (but not fecundity); andDoa-4affected late-life fecundity (but not lifespan). Finally, the last candidate allele (Doa-3) also affected lifespan, but in the opposite direction than predicted.