title: Biometrical analysis of larval digging behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Digging behavior of D. melanogaster larvae increases as larval development proceeds. Diallel crosses were made to analyze genetically digging behavior at 72 and 108 h of larval age. Additive and dominance variation was found, dominance being principally to dig. Dominance to dig is higher at 108 than 72 h of development; additivity does not substantially change between these two larval ages. At 72 h of larval age, depending on the cross, I found (i) dominance to dig, (ii) dominance to nondig, (iii) overdominance to dig, and (iv) no dominance to dig. At 108 h of larval development I detected (i) dominance to dig and (ii) overdominance to dig. Thus, diversity of response in the F1 was greater at 72 than 108 h of larval development. These age-related changes in larval digging behavior of D. melanogaster seem to reflect epigenetic changes in the patterns of gene expressions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Celular y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Godoy-Herrera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D007814:Larva; D008297:Male; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype