Ethanol and acetic acid tolerance are highly positively correlated across populations of D. melanogaster and species of Drosophila. The non-independence of traits associated with different steps in the ethanol and acetic acid detoxification pathway underscores the need for a pathway analysis of ethanol and acetic acid tolerance. Analysis of this complete pathway was hindered by the fact that only ADH and aldehyde oxidase (ALDOX) could be studied at the biochemical and molecular levels, leaving the third step in the ethanol detoxification pathway, catalyzed by acetyl Co-A synthetase (AcCoAS), uncharacterized. Identification of AcCoAS from the complete genome sequence of D. melanogaster and recently developed molecular probes for the AcCoAS reaction now allow for a complete pathway analysis of ethanol and acetic acid tolerance. We hypothesize that selection for both tolerances operates on the entire detoxification pathway and will shape the patterns of variation and covariation between the three key enzymes in the pathway. A combination of techniques will be employed to quantify variation in and covariation between nucleotide sequence data, mRNA expression levels, enzyme activities and tolerance to both ethanol and acetic acid.

The research funded by this Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant takes an evolutionary quantitative genetic approach to characterize the relationship between genetic variation and enzyme activity variation at all three steps in the pathway and the consequences of this variation on ethanol and acetic acid tolerance. The findings will be analyzed in the context of metabolic control theory and will allow us to make predictions about the genetic and biochemical responses to selection on organismal performance

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Environmental Biology (DEB)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0352606
Program Officer
Samuel M. Scheiner
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2002-10-01
Budget End
2004-01-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$9,995
Indirect Cost
Name
Cornell University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Ithaca
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
14850