Quantitative trait loci for life span in Drosophila melanogaster: interactions with genetic background and larval density.
The genetic architecture of variation in adult life span was examined for a population of recombinant inbred lines, each of which had been crossed to both inbred parental strains from which the lines were derived, after emergence from both high and low larval density. QTL affecting life span were mapped within each sex and larval density treatment by linkage to highly polymorphic roo-transposable element markers, using a composite interval mapping method. We detected a total of six QTL affecting life span; the additive effects and degrees of dominance for all were highly sex- and larval environment-specific. There were significant epistatic interactions between five of the life span QTL, the effects of which also differed according to genetic background, sex, and larval density. Five additional QTL were identified that contributed to differences among lines in their sensitivity to variation in larval density. Further fine-scale mapping is necessary to determine whether candidate genes within the regions to which the QTL map are actually responsible for the observed variation in life span.
Department of Genetics, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA. jwleips@unity.ncsu.edu
J
J
Leips
T F
TF
Mackay
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002875:Chromosomes; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D006720:Homozygote; D007814:Larva / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
D005819:Genetic Markers