Fertility differences between two wild-type Drosophila melanogaster lines correlate with differences in the expression of the Jheh1 gene, which codes for an enzyme degrading juvenile hormone.

Juvenile hormone plays a "status quo" role in Drosophila melanogaster larvae, preventing the untimely metamorphosis, and performs a gonadotropic function in imagoes, ensuring the ovaries' preparedness for vitellogenesis. The decreased level of juvenile hormone results in reproductive disorders in D. melanogaster females including a delay in the oviposition onset and a fertility decrease.

New Genotype Increasing Heat Stress Resistance of Host Is Characterized by a Large Chromosomal Inversion.

The maternally transmitted endocellular bacteria Wolbachia is a well-known symbiont of insects, demonstrating both negative and positive effects on host fitness. The previously found Wolbachia strain wMelPlus is characterized by a positive effect on the stress-resistance of its host Drosophila melanogaster, under heat stress conditions. This investigation is dedicated to studying the genomic underpinnings of such an effect.

Easy and Effective Method for Extracting and Purifying Genomic DNA.

A number of methods for extracting the DNA of maternally inherited obligate intracellular bacteria from an insect host and its subsequent purification have been described in previous scholarship. As is present in the hosts' organisms in rather low quantities, these techniques used to be quite labor-intensive. For this paper, we analyzed them in detail, searched for a possibility to simplify and accelerate the protocol, and proposed an easy and effective method for isolating DNA from with a purity sufficient for genomic sequencing.

Fitness Analysis and Transcriptome Profiling Following Repeated Mild Heat Stress of Varying Frequency in Females.

Understanding how repeated stress affects metabolic and physiological functions in the long run is of crucial importance for evaluating anthropogenic pressure on the environment. We investigated fertility, longevity and metabolism in females exposed to short-term heat stress (38 °C, 1 h) repeated daily or weekly. Daily stress was shown to cause a significant decrease in both fertility and longevity, as well as in body mass and triglyceride (fat) content, but a significant increase in trehalose and glucose content.