title: Hydrogen sulfide exposure increases desiccation tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) has been shown to effect physiological alterations in several animals, frequently leading to an improvement in survival in otherwise lethal conditions. In the present paper, a volatility bioassay system was developed to evaluate the survivorship of Drosophila melanogaster adults exposed to H(2)S gas that emanated from a K(2)S donor. Using this bioassay system, we found that H(2)S exposure significantly increased the survival of flies under arid and food-free conditions, but not under humid and food-free conditions. This suggests that H(2)S plays a role in desiccation tolerance but not in nutritional stress alleviation. To further confirm the suggestion, the mRNA levels of two desiccation tolerance-related genes Frost and Desat2, and a starvation-related gene Smp-30, from the control and treated flies were measured by quantitative real-time PCR. These genes were up-regulated within 2h when the flies transferred to the arid and food-free bioassay system. Addition of H(2)S further increased Frost and Desat2 mRNA levels, in contrast to Smp-30. Thus, our molecular results were consistent with our bioassay findings. Because of the molecular and genetic tools available for Drosophila, the fly will be a useful system for determining how H(2)S regulates various physiological alterations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Management of Crop Diseases and Pest Insects, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Shu-Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao-Qin
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Li-li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Guo-Qing
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D003890:Desiccation; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C431557:Fst protein, Drosophila; D012313:RNA; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases; C499595:desat2 protein, Drosophila; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide