Natural behavior polymorphism due to a cGMP-dependent protein kinase of Drosophila.
Naturally occuring polymorphisms in behavior are difficult to map genetically and thus are refractory to molecular characterization. An exception is the foraging gene (for), a gene that has two naturally occurring variants in Drosophila melanogaster food-search behavior: rover and sitter. Molecular mapping placed for mutations in the dg2 gene, which encodes a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG). Rovers had higher PKG activity than sitters, and transgenic sitters expressing a dg2 complementary DNA from rover showed transformation of behavior to rover. Thus, PKG levels affected food-search behavior, and natural variation in PKG activity accounted for a behavioral polymorphism.
Osborne
K A
KA
Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3.
Robichon
A
A
Burgess
E
E
Butland
S
S
Shaw
R A
RA
Coulthard
A
A
Pereira
H S
HS
Greenspan
R J
RJ
Sokolowski
M B
MB
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D006152:Cyclic GMP / Q000378:metabolism; D017869:Cyclic GMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D017344:Genes, Insect; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D015398:Signal Transduction
D017869:Cyclic GMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D006152:Cyclic GMP