Variation in sex-, stage- and tissue-specific expression of alpha-amylase in five species of the Drosophila quinaria section
1999
Offenberger, M.
Tissue-specific expression patterns of alpha-amylase are investigated in five species of the quinaria section of the genus Drosophila. Larvae and adults of all five sympatric species show great variability in alpha-amylase expression. Patterns of midgut activity vary between the species as well as between strains of one species, between stages of development, between sexes and according to the glucose content of the diet. In the four European species D. limbata, D. phalerata, D. kuntzei, and D. transversa, the variability in the adults is greater than that in the larvae; in the cosmopolitan D. immigrans the reverse is true. The degree of polymorphism in the patterns of amylase activity in the midgut in a development stage or a species reflects the variety of the natural diet. The functional significance of this polymorphism in sympatric species is discussed.
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