title: Dopamine drives Drosophila sechellia adaptation to its toxic host.
abstract: Many insect species are host-obligate specialists. The evolutionary mechanism driving the adaptation of a species to a toxic host is, however, intriguing. We analyzed the tight association of Drosophila sechellia to its sole host, the fruit of Morinda citrifolia, which is toxic to other members of the melanogaster species group. Molecular polymorphisms in the dopamine regulatory protein Catsup cause infertility in D. sechellia due to maternal arrest of oogenesis. In its natural host, the fruit compensates for the impaired maternal dopamine metabolism with the precursor l-DOPA, resuming oogenesis and stimulating egg production. l-DOPA present in morinda additionally increases the size of D. sechellia eggs, what in turn enhances early fitness. We argue that the need of l-DOPA for successful reproduction has driven D. sechellia to become an M. citrifolia obligate specialist. This study illustrates how an insect's dopaminergic system can sustain ecological adaptations by modulating ontogenesis and development.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Sofía
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lavista-Llanos
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Aleš
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Svatoš
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kai
authors.affiliation: Genetics and Physiopathology of Neurotransmission, Neurobiology Unit, CNRS, ESPCI ParisTech, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Riemensperger
authors.affiliation: Genetics and Physiopathology of Neurotransmission, Neurobiology Unit, CNRS, ESPCI ParisTech, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Birman
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcus C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Stensmyr
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Bill S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Hansson
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D002264:Carboxylic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D032066:Morinda / Q000469:parasitology*; D010063:Ovum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002264:Carboxylic Acids; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: D. melanogaster; Drosophila sechellia; Morinda citrifolia; dopamine; ecology; evolution; neuroscience; oogenesis; tyrosine hydroxilase