Genetic coadaptation of the amylase gene system in Drosophila melanogaster: evidence for the selective advantage of the lowest AMY activity and of its epistatic genetic background

Abstract

In natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster, an amylase isozyme with the lowest alpha-amylase activity (AMY(1,1)) is predominant. To evaluate the selective significance of AMY(1,1) and its regulatory factor(s), we examined selection experiments in laboratory populations on two distinct food environments. After 300 generations, AMY(1,1) became predominant (89%) in a glucose (a product of AMY)-rich environment, while an isozyme with higher alpha-amylase activity, AMY(1,6), became predominant (83%) in a starch (substrate)-rich environment. We found that the identical alleles of the amylase (Amy) gene, which encodes each of AMY(1,1) and AMY(1,6), were shared between the two populations in the different food environments, employing the nucleotide sequencing of the duplicated Amy genes. Nevertheless, AMY(1,6) homozygotes selected in the starch-rich environment had a twofold higher AMY enzyme activity than those selected in the glucose-rich environment, suggesting a coadaptation of the coding region and its regulatory factor(s) on the genetic background. Such a difference in AMY enzyme activity was not detected between AMY(1,1) homozygotes, suggesting that the effect of the genetic background is epistatic. Our results indicate that natural selection is working on the Amy gene system as a whole for flies to adapt to the various food environments of local populations.