Publications

evolution and dynamics of small rna response to a retroelement invasion in drosophila.	although small rnas efficiently control transposition activity of most transposons in the host genome, such an immune system is not always applicable against a new transposon's invasions. here, we explored a possibility to introduce potentially mobile copy of the penelope retroelement previously implicated in hybrid dysgenesis syndrome in drosophila virilis into the genomes of two distant drosophila species. the consequences of such introduction were monitored at different phases after experimen ...	2013	23079419
what happens when penelope comes?: an unusual retroelement invades a host species genome exploring different strategies.	transposable elements (tes) are ubiquitous residents in eukaryotic genomes. they can cause dramatic changes in gene expression and lead to gross rearrangements of chromosome structure, providing the basis for rapid evolution. the virilis species group of drosophila contains certain species that can be crossed under experimental conditions and their phylogeny is thoroughly investigated. we have shown that drosophila virilis, the most primitive karyotypically and probably the ancestral species of ...	2013	23914310
drosophila oogenesis as a bio-marker responding to emf sources.	the model biological organisms drosophila melanogaster and drosophila virilis have been utilized to assess effects on apoptotic cell death of follicles during oogenesis and reproductive capacity (fecundity) decline. a total of 280 different experiments were performed using newly emerged flies exposed for short time daily for 3-7 d to various emf sources including: gsm 900/1800 mhz mobile phone, 1880-1900 mhz dect wireless base, dect wireless handset, mobile phone-dect handset combination, 2.44 g ...	2014	23915130
efficient identification of y chromosome sequences in the human and drosophila genomes.	notwithstanding their biological importance, y chromosomes remain poorly known in most species. a major obstacle to their study is the identification of y chromosome sequences; due to its high content of repetitive dna, in most genome projects, the y chromosome sequence is fragmented into a large number of small, unmapped scaffolds. identification of y-linked genes among these fragments has yielded important insights about the origin and evolution of y chromosomes, but the process is labor inten ...	2013	23921660
medium-sized tandem repeats represent an abundant component of the drosophila virilis genome.	previously, we developed a simple method for carrying out a restriction enzyme analysis of eukaryotic dna in silico, based on the known dna sequences of the genomes. this method allows the user to calculate lengths of all dna fragments that are formed after a whole genome is digested at the theoretical recognition sites of a given restriction enzyme. a comparison of the observed peaks in distribution diagrams with the results from dna cleavage using several restriction enzymes performed in vitro ...	2013	24209985
comparative gene expression analysis of dtg, a novel target gene of dpp signaling pathway in the early drosophila melanogaster embryo.	in the early drosophila melanogaster embryo, dpp, a secreted molecule that belongs to the tgf-β superfamily of growth factors, activates a set of downstream genes to subdivide the dorsal region into amnioserosa and dorsal epidermis. here, we examined the expression pattern and transcriptional regulation of dtg, a new target gene of dpp signaling pathway that is required for proper amnioserosa differentiation. we showed that the expression of dtg was controlled by dpp and characterized a 524-bp e ...	2014	24321690
cuticular hydrocarbons of drosophila montana: geographic variation, sexual dimorphism and potential roles as pheromones.	sexual selection within populations can play an important role in speciation when divergence in mating signals and their corresponding preferences occur along different coevolutionary trajectories in different populations. in insects, one potential target of sexual selection is the blend of cuticular hydrocarbons (chcs), which often show intra- and interspecific variation, sexual dimorphism and may act as pheromones. in drosophila montana, a cold-adapted, circumboreal member of the drosophila vi ...	2014	24373710
ontogenetic consequences of dysgenic crosses in drosophila virilis.	hybrid dysgenesis (hd) syndrome in drosophila virilis presumably results from the mobilization of several unrelated mobile genetic elements in dysgenic hybrids. morphogenetic events during oogenesis and spermatogenesis were investigated in detail in the progeny of d. virilis dysgenic crosses. using germ-cell specific anti-vasa staining, we monitored the fate of germline cells at different ontogenetic stages in strains of d. virilis and their hybrids. anti-vasa staining indicated that the major l ...	2013	24395561
patterns of molecular evolution of the germ line specification gene oskar suggest that a novel domain may contribute to functional divergence in drosophila.	in several metazoans including flies of the genus drosophila, germ line specification occurs through the inheritance of maternally deposited cytoplasmic determinants, collectively called germ plasm. the novel insect gene oskar is at the top of the drosophila germ line specification pathway, and also plays an important role in posterior patterning. a novel n-terminal domain of oskar (the long oskar domain) evolved in drosophilids, but the role of this domain in oskar functional evolution is unkno ...	2014	24407548
genetic regulation of chromosome behaviour in interspecific hybrids of drosophila.	when crossing drosophila virilis females with d. littoralis males, the elimination of d. littoralis sixth chromosome (microchromosomes) was often observed. the absence of the sixth chromosome of d. littoralis was revealed when studying f1 hybrids, because of the mosaic expression of the recessive gene "gl", located in the sixth chromosome of d. virilis. in the reciprocal cross the elimination of the sixth chromosome of d. littoralis did not take place (sokolov 1959).genetic analysis enabled the ...	1976	24413651
evolutionary changes in gene expression, coding sequence and copy-number at the cyp6g1 locus contribute to resistance to multiple insecticides in drosophila.	widespread use of insecticides has led to insecticide resistance in many populations of insects. in some populations, resistance has evolved to multiple pesticides. in drosophila melanogaster, resistance to multiple classes of insecticide is due to the overexpression of a single cytochrome p450 gene, cyp6g1. overexpression of cyp6g1 appears to have evolved in parallel in drosophila simulans, a sibling species of d. melanogaster, where it is also associated with insecticide resistance. however, i ...	2014	24416303
fast-evolving micrornas are highly expressed in the early embryo of drosophila virilis.	micrornas are short non-protein-coding rnas that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and are essential for the embryonic development of multicellular animals. comparative genome-scale analyses have revealed that metazoan evolution is accompanied by the continuous acquisition of novel microrna genes. this suggests that novel micrornas may promote innovation and diversity in development. we determined the evolutionary origins of extant drosophila micrornas and estimated the ...	2014	24448446
[dominance status of shape of male genitalia in interspecific crosses of some drosophila virilis group species].	the heritability of the shape of the main species-specific morphological trait for the drosophila virilis group--the male mating organ has been analyzed using the hybrid males d. virilis x d. lummei and d. virilis x d. novamexicana. the results suggest an increase in the share of the characters with a recessive status in the evolutionarily younger species and demonstrate the role of sex chromosomes in the implementation of a dominant or recessive status of the trait. the roles of additive and ep ...	2013	24450191
[transfer of mitochondrial dna to nuclear genome of cells of passaged cell line of drosophila virilis].	the variability of the chromosomal fragments of the atp6 mitochondrial gene, which is integrated into chromosomal dna in the lines of flies of different geographic origins and in the passaged cell lines of d. virilis has been analyzed. we did not reveal any nucleotide variability in this dna marker among the studied fly lines. this result is consistent with the proposition that the d. virilis species is monomorphic. the new fragments of the atp6 gene that are associated with the insertions of th ...	2013	24450203
whole genome sequencing in drosophila virilis identifies polyphemus, a recently activated tc1-like transposon with a possible role in hybrid dysgenesis.	hybrid dysgenic syndromes in drosophila have been critical for characterizing host mechanisms of transposable element (te) regulation. this is because a common feature of hybrid dysgenesis is germline te mobilization that occurs when paternally inherited tes are not matched with a maternal pool of silencing rnas that maintain transgenerational te control. in the face of this imbalance tes become activated in the germline and can cause f1 sterility. the syndrome of hybrid dysgenesis in drosophila ...	2014	24555450
naturally occurring deletions of hunchback binding sites in the even-skipped stripe 3+7 enhancer.	changes in regulatory dna contribute to phenotypic differences within and between taxa. comparative studies show that many transcription factor binding sites (tfbs) are conserved between species whereas functional studies reveal that some mutations segregating within species alter tfbs function. consistently, in this analysis of 13 regulatory elements in drosophila melanogaster populations, single base and insertion/deletion polymorphism are rare in characterized regulatory elements. experimenta ...	2014	24786295
tetris is a foldback transposon that provided the building blocks for an emerging satellite dna of drosophila virilis.	transposable elements (tes) and satellite dnas (satdnas) are abundant components of most eukaryotic genomes studied so far and their impact on evolution has been the focus of several studies. a number of studies linked tes with satdnas, but the nature of their evolutionary relationships remains unclear. during in silico analyses of the drosophila virilis assembled genome, we found a novel dna transposon we named tetris based on its modular structure and diversity of rearranged forms. we aimed to ...	2014	24858539
a transgenerational process defines pirna biogenesis in drosophila virilis.	piwi-interacting (pi)rnas repress diverse transposable elements in germ cells of metazoa and are essential for fertility in both invertebrates and vertebrates. the precursors of pirnas are transcribed from distinct genomic regions, the so-called pirna clusters; however, how pirna clusters are differentiated from the rest of the genome is not known. to address this question, we studied pirna biogenesis in two d. virilis strains that show differential ability to generate pirnas from several genomi ...	2014	25199836
nls copy-number variation governs efficiency of nuclear import--case study on dutpases.	nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of large macromolecules requires an active transport machinery. in many cases, this is initiated by binding of the nuclear localization signal (nls) peptide of cargo proteins to importin-α molecules. fine orchestration of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking is of particularly high importance for proteins involved in maintenance of genome integrity, such as dutpases, which are responsible for prevention of uracil incorporation into the genome. in most eukaryotes, dutpases ...	2014	25283549
transcriptional activation is a conserved feature of the early embryonic factor zelda that requires a cluster of four zinc fingers for dna binding and a low-complexity activation domain.	delayed transcriptional activation of the zygotic genome is a nearly universal phenomenon in metazoans. immediately following fertilization, development is controlled by maternally deposited products, and it is not until later stages that widespread activation of the zygotic genome occurs. although the mechanisms driving this genome activation are currently unknown, the transcriptional activator zelda (zld) has been shown to be instrumental in driving this process in drosophila melanogaster. her ...	2014	25538246
how consistent are the transcriptome changes associated with cold acclimation in two species of the drosophila virilis group?	for many organisms the ability to cold acclimate with the onset of seasonal cold has major implications for their fitness. in insects, where this ability is widespread, the physiological changes associated with increased cold tolerance have been well studied. despite this, little work has been done to trace changes in gene expression during cold acclimation that lead to an increase in cold tolerance. we used an rna-seq approach to investigate this in two species of the drosophila virilis group. ...	2015	25669607
specific features in linear and spatial organizations of pericentromeric heterochromatin regions in polytene chromosomes of the closely related species drosophila virilis and d. kanekoi (diptera: drosophilidae).	heterochromatin plays an important role in the spatial arrangement and evolution of the eukaryotic genetic apparatus. the closely related species drosophila virilis (phyla virilis) and d. kanekoi (phyla montana) differ in the amount of heterochromatin along the chromosomes as well as by the presence of the metacentric chromosome 2, which emerged as a result of a pericentric inversion during speciation, in the d. kanekoi karyotype. the purpose of this study was to establish if chromosome rearrang ...	2015	25721230
[species-specific localization of dna from pericentromeric heterochromatin on polytene chromosomes in the salivary gland cells and 3d-nuclear organization nurse cells in drosophila virilis, and drosophila kanekoi (diptera: drosophilidae)].	microdissection of the chromocenter of d. virilis salivary gland polytene chromosomes has been carried out and the region-specific. dna library (dviriii) has been obtained. fish was used for dviriii hybridization with salivary gland polytene chromosomes and ovarian nurse cells of d. virilis and d. kanekoi. localization of dviriii in the pericentromeric regions of chromosomes and in the telomeric region of chromosome 5 was observed in both species. moreover, species specificity in the localizatio ...	2014	25739282
a single gene causes an interspecific difference in pigmentation in drosophila.	the genetic basis of species differences remains understudied. studies in insects have contributed significantly to our understanding of morphological evolution. pigmentation traits in particular have received a great deal of attention and several genes in the insect pigmentation pathway have been implicated in inter- and intraspecific differences. nonetheless, much remains unknown about many of the genes in this pathway and their potential role in understudied taxa. here we genetically analyze ...	2015	25769982
computational aerodynamic analysis of a micro-ct based bio-realistic fruit fly wing.	the aerodynamic features of a bio-realistic 3d fruit fly wing in steady state (snapshot) flight conditions were analyzed numerically. the wing geometry was created from high resolution micro-computed tomography (micro-ct) of the fruit fly drosophila virilis. computational fluid dynamics (cfd) analyses of the wing were conducted at ultra-low reynolds numbers ranging from 71 to 200, and at angles of attack ranging from -10° to +30°. it was found that in the 3d bio-realistic model, the corrugations ...	2015	25954946
acoustic duetting in drosophila virilis relies on the integration of auditory and tactile signals.	many animal species, including insects, are capable of acoustic duetting, a complex social behavior in which males and females tightly control the rate and timing of their courtship song syllables relative to each other. the mechanisms underlying duetting remain largely unknown across model systems. most studies of duetting focus exclusively on acoustic interactions, but the use of multisensory cues should aid in coordinating behavior between individuals. to test this hypothesis, we develop dros ...	2015	26046297
seasonal gene expression kinetics between diapause phases in drosophila virilis group species and overwintering differences between diapausing and non-diapausing females.	most northern insect species experience a period of developmental arrest, diapause, which enables them to survive over the winter and postpone reproduction until favorable conditions. we studied the timing of reproductive diapause and its long-term effects on the cold tolerance of drosophila montana, d. littoralis and d. ezoana females in seasonally varying environmental conditions. at the same time we traced expression levels of 219 genes in d. montana using a custom-made microarray. we show th ...	2015	26063442
helitrons shaping the genomic architecture of drosophila: enrichment of dine-tr1 in α- and β-heterochromatin, satellite dna emergence, and pirna expression.	drosophila interspersed elements (dines) constitute an abundant but poorly understood group of helitrons present in several drosophila species. the general structure of dines includes two conserved blocks that may or not contain a region with tandem repeats in between. these central tandem repeats (ctrs) are similar within species but highly divergent between species. it has been assumed that ctrs have independent origins. herein, we identify a subset of dines, termed dine-tr1, which contain hom ...	2015	26408292
two phases of aging separated by the smurf transition as a public path to death.	aging's most obvious characteristic is the time dependent increase of an individual's probability to die. this lifelong process is accompanied by a large number of molecular and physiological changes. although numerous genes involved in aging have been identified in the past decades its leading factors have yet to be determined. to identify the very processes driving aging we have developed in the past years an assay to identify physiologically old individuals in a synchronized population of dro ...	2016	27002861
functional interplay between msl1 and cdk7 controls rna polymerase ii ser5 phosphorylation.	proper gene expression requires coordinated interplay among transcriptional coactivators, transcription factors and the general transcription machinery. we report here that msl1, a central component of the dosage compensation complex in drosophila melanogaster and drosophila virilis, displays evolutionarily conserved sex-independent binding to promoters. genetic and biochemical analyses reveal a functional interaction of msl1 with cdk7, a subunit of the cdk-activating kinase (cak) complex of the ...	2016	27183194
a single amino-acid substitution toggles chloride dependence of the alpha-amylase paralog amyrel in drosophila melanogaster and drosophila virilis species.	in animals, most α-amylases are chloride-dependent enzymes. a chloride ion is required for allosteric activation and is coordinated by one asparagine and two arginine side chains. whereas the asparagine and one arginine are strictly conserved, the main chloride binding arginine is replaced by a glutamine in some rare instances, resulting in the loss of chloride binding and activation. amyrel is a distant paralogue of α-amylase in diptera, which was not characterized biochemically to date. amyrel ...	2016	27312592
potential steps in the evolution of a fused trimeric all-β dutpase involve a catalytically competent fused dimeric intermediate.	deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate nucleotidohydrolase (dutpase) is essential for genome integrity. interestingly, this enzyme from drosophila virilis has an unusual form, as three monomer repeats are merged with short linker sequences, yielding a fused trimer-like dutpase fold. unlike homotrimeric dutpases that are encoded by a single repeat dut gene copy, the three repeats of the d. virilis dut gene are not identical due to several point mutations. we investigated the potential evolutionary pathway ...	2016	27380921
multiple genes cause postmating prezygotic reproductive isolation in the drosophila virilis group.	understanding the genetic basis of speciation is a central problem in evolutionary biology. studies of reproductive isolation have provided several insights into the genetic causes of speciation, especially in taxa that lend themselves to detailed genetic scrutiny. reproductive barriers have usually been divided into those that occur before zygote formation (prezygotic) and after (postzygotic), with the latter receiving a great deal of attention over several decades. reproductive barriers that o ...	2016	27729433
inducing cold-sensitivity in the frigophilic fly drosophila montana by rnai.	cold acclimation is a critical physiological adaptation for coping with seasonal cold. by increasing their cold tolerance individuals can remain active for longer at the onset of winter and can recover more quickly from a cold shock. in insects, despite many physiological studies, little is known about the genetic basis of cold acclimation. recently, transcriptomic analyses in drosophila virilis and d. montana revealed candidate genes for cold acclimation by identifying genes upregulated during ...	2016	27832122
plant carnivory beyond bogs: reliance on prey feeding in drosophyllum lusitanicum (drosophyllaceae) in dry mediterranean heathland habitats.	in a cost-benefit framework, plant carnivory is hypothesized to be an adaptation to nutrient-poor soils in sunny, wetland habitats. however, apparent exceptions to this cost-benefit model exist, although they have been rarely studied. one of these exceptions is the carnivorous subshrub drosophyllum lusitanicum, which thrives in mediterranean heathlands on dry sandstone soils and has relatively well-developed, xeromorphic roots. here, the roles of leaf (carnivory) and root (soil) nutrient uptake ...	2017	28065921
morphological evolution of the drosophila virilis species group as assessed by rate tests for natural selection on quantitative characters.	two rate tests for assessing natural selection on quantitative traits are discussed for their usefulness in macroevolutionary and adaptational studies. the underlying assumptions and parameter estimation for the constant-heritability (ch) and mutation-drift-equilibrium (mde) models, which are the bases for these tests, are discussed. the purpose of these rate tests is to determine whether morphological change has occurred either too fast to be explained by neutral drift, which suggests direction ...	1993	28564280
the genetic basis of evolution of the male courtship sounds in the drosophila virilis group.	when courting, males of the drosophila virilis group vibrate their wings and emit species-specific courtship sounds consisting of trains of polycyclic sound pulses. to analyze the genetic basis of evolutionary changes in the sounds we made an f1 diallel set of reciprocal crosses between the members of the virilis phylad of the group (two stocks of d. virilis and one of d. americana americana, d. a. texana, d. novamexicana, and d. lummei). we also crossed the d. virilis stocks with the members of ...	1987	28564348
evolutionary dynamics of male reproductive genes in the drosophila virilis subgroup.	postcopulatory sexual selection (pcss) is a potent evolutionary force that can drive rapid changes of reproductive genes within species, and thus has the potential to generate reproductive incompatibilities between species. male seminal fluid proteins (sfps) are major players in postmating interactions, and are important targets of pcss in males. the virilis subgroup of drosophila exhibits strong interspecific gametic incompatibilities, and can serve as a model to study the genetic basis of pcss ...	2017	28739599
role of fly cleaning behavior on carriage of escherichia coli and pseudomonas aeruginosa.	flies are known to be mechanical vectors of bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases. although flies are known to transmit disease, the effects of cleaning behavior have not been well studied. this study quantified the cleaning effectiveness and behavior of three fly species: sarcophaga bullata, musca domestica l., and drosophila virilis. flies were transferred to plates of escherichia coli or pseudomonas aeruginosa and allowed to walk on the bacteria for a total of 5 min. after the flies were c ...	2017	28981669
comparative analysis of mirna expression during the development of insects of different metamorphosis modes and germ-band types.	do mirnas contribute to specify the germ-band type and the body structure in the insect embryo? our goal was to address that issue by studying the changes in mirna expression along the ontogeny of the german cockroach blattella germanica, which is a short germ-band and hemimetabolan species.	2017	29020923
the role of species-specific sensory cues in male responses to mating rivals in drosophila melanogaster fruitflies.	complex sets of cues can be important in recognizing and responding to conspecific mating competitors and avoiding potentially costly heterospecific competitive interactions. within drosophila melanogaster, males can detect sensory inputs from conspecifics to assess the level of competition. they respond to rivals by significantly extending mating duration and gain significant fitness benefits from doing so. here, we tested the idea that the multiple sensory cues used by d. melanogaster males to ...	2017	29187965
landscape and evolution of tissue-specific alternative polyadenylation across drosophila species.	drosophila melanogaster has one of best-described transcriptomes of any multicellular organism. nevertheless, the paucity of 3'-sequencing data in this species precludes comprehensive assessment of alternative polyadenylation (apa), which is subject to broad tissue-specific control.	2017	29191225