"The project started by performing a large experiment where I examined male and female fitness across 30 different genotypes of Drosophila. Following this large screen, we uncovered new levels of complexity in the role of diet in sex-specific fitness, revealing high levels of within-sex genetic variance underpinning nutrient-dependent fitness. These results gave rise to the first paper from this project:
• M.F. Camus, K. Fowler, M.W.D. Piper, M. Reuter (2017) Sex- and genotype-effects on nutrient-dependent fitness landscapes in Drosophila melanogaster, Proceeding of the Royal Society B, 284, 20172237
Subsequently, we aimed to explore if we saw genetic variation in dietary choice, and if reproduction played a role in nutritional choices. For this we selected a subset of genotypes from our screen and performed a diet choice experiment on mated and virgin flies from both sexes. The following publication stemmed from the results:
• M.F. Camus, CC. Huang, M. Reuter, K. Fowler (2018) ""Dietary choices are influenced by genotype, mating status and sex in Drosophila melanogaster"", Ecology & Evolution, 8:5385–5393
During the final stages of the project we aimed to examine what are the genes and pathways that respond differently in each sex. We are addressing this question using Next generation RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq). We are currently in the process of writing up the results from this experiment into a paper (target for paper: eLife). Our findings suggest that males and female transcriptome responds very similarly changes in nutritional environment, however the reproductive genes are able to uncouple their response. In essence, reproductive genes modify nutrient signalling so that flies make choices that best suit the sex-specific tissue needs.
I have disseminated research stemming from this project at several scientific meetings. I have presented posters at the European Society of Evolutionary Biology conference (2017) and the joint European and American Evolutionary meeting (2018). Furthermore, I was invited to give a talk at the Linnaean Society as part of the “Centre for Ecology and Evolution” Autumn symposium. Finally, I have given a seminar at UCL as part of the postdoc seminar series.
During the fellowship time, I have also worked on publishing collaborative work with my previous lab and other collaborative work. A full list of my publications that have stemmed from the project can be found on my personal website and on the publication report.
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