Date of Award
2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Biology
Supervisor
Dr. Brent Sinclair
Abstract
In the field, insects suffer multiple cold exposures during winter. When exposed to repeated low temperatures, Drosophila melanogaster females show an increase in survival, but a reduction in reproduction. In this study, microarrays were used to analyze the gene expression of female D. melanogaster after multiple, single sustained (or single prolonged) and single short cold treatments, which exposed the flies at 0 °C for repeated 2 h, single 10 h and single 2 h respectively. Candidate genes involved in the 6 h recovery from different types of cold exposures were identified. After repeated cold exposures, candidate genes particularly included those involved in muscle protein and muscle activity. Stress-related genes, Turandot A, Turandot C, and Turandot M were up- regulated in response to multiple cold exposures, and improved the cold survival in female D. melanogaster. This work also suggested a strong relationship between cold exposure and the immune system. I suggest that in fruit flies, chilling injuries after cold exposure may induce immune responses and contribute to recovery from cold.
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Jian, "A microarray study on gene expression of Drosophila melanogaster 'm response to multiple cold exposures" (2010). Digitized Theses. 3678.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3678