Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis
Insects can survive harsh conditions, including Arctic winters, by entering a hormonally induced state of dormancy, known as diapause. Diapause is triggered by environmental cues such as shortening of the photoperiod (lengthening of the night). The time of entry into diapause depends on the latitude...
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The Royal Society
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Open Biology |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240403 |
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| author | Giulia Manoli Pekka Lankinen Enrico Bertolini Charlotte Helfrich-Förster |
| author_facet | Giulia Manoli Pekka Lankinen Enrico Bertolini Charlotte Helfrich-Förster |
| author_sort | Giulia Manoli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Insects can survive harsh conditions, including Arctic winters, by entering a hormonally induced state of dormancy, known as diapause. Diapause is triggered by environmental cues such as shortening of the photoperiod (lengthening of the night). The time of entry into diapause depends on the latitude of the insects’ habitat, and this applies even within a species: populations living at higher latitudes enter diapause earlier in the year than populations living at lower latitudes. A long-standing question in biology is whether the internal circadian clock, which governs daily behaviour and serves as a reference clock to measure night length, shows similar latitudinal adaptations. To address this question, we examined the onset of diapause and various behavioural and molecular parameters of the circadian clock in the cosmopolitan fly, Drosophila littoralis, a species distributed throughout Europe from the Black Sea (41° N) to Arctic regions (69° N). We found that all clock parameters examined showed the same correlation with latitude as the critical night length for diapause induction. We conclude that the circadian clock has adapted to the latitude and that this may result in the observed latitudinal differences in the onset of diapause. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-84e176298ebc4ba789b2b30dba349e35 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2046-2441 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-84e176298ebc4ba789b2b30dba349e352025-08-20T03:14:24ZengThe Royal SocietyOpen Biology2046-24412025-03-0115310.1098/rsob.240403Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralisGiulia Manoli0Pekka Lankinen1Enrico Bertolini2Charlotte Helfrich-Förster3Neurobiology and Genetics, Biocenter, University of Würzburg , Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu , Oulu, FinlandNeurobiology and Genetics, Biocenter, University of Würzburg , Würzburg, GermanyNeurobiology and Genetics, Biocenter, University of Würzburg , Würzburg, GermanyInsects can survive harsh conditions, including Arctic winters, by entering a hormonally induced state of dormancy, known as diapause. Diapause is triggered by environmental cues such as shortening of the photoperiod (lengthening of the night). The time of entry into diapause depends on the latitude of the insects’ habitat, and this applies even within a species: populations living at higher latitudes enter diapause earlier in the year than populations living at lower latitudes. A long-standing question in biology is whether the internal circadian clock, which governs daily behaviour and serves as a reference clock to measure night length, shows similar latitudinal adaptations. To address this question, we examined the onset of diapause and various behavioural and molecular parameters of the circadian clock in the cosmopolitan fly, Drosophila littoralis, a species distributed throughout Europe from the Black Sea (41° N) to Arctic regions (69° N). We found that all clock parameters examined showed the same correlation with latitude as the critical night length for diapause induction. We conclude that the circadian clock has adapted to the latitude and that this may result in the observed latitudinal differences in the onset of diapause.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240403diapausecircadian clockphotoperiodismlatitudinal clinesclock proteinspigment-dispersing factor |
| spellingShingle | Giulia Manoli Pekka Lankinen Enrico Bertolini Charlotte Helfrich-Förster Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis Open Biology diapause circadian clock photoperiodism latitudinal clines clock proteins pigment-dispersing factor |
| title | Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis |
| title_full | Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis |
| title_fullStr | Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis |
| title_short | Correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in Drosophila littoralis |
| title_sort | correlation between circadian and photoperiodic latitudinal clines in drosophila littoralis |
| topic | diapause circadian clock photoperiodism latitudinal clines clock proteins pigment-dispersing factor |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240403 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT giuliamanoli correlationbetweencircadianandphotoperiodiclatitudinalclinesindrosophilalittoralis AT pekkalankinen correlationbetweencircadianandphotoperiodiclatitudinalclinesindrosophilalittoralis AT enricobertolini correlationbetweencircadianandphotoperiodiclatitudinalclinesindrosophilalittoralis AT charlottehelfrichforster correlationbetweencircadianandphotoperiodiclatitudinalclinesindrosophilalittoralis |