COMPLEX TRADE-OFFS AND THE EVOLUTION OF STARVATION RESISTANCE IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Abstract

The measurement of trade‐offs may be complicated when selection exploits multiple avenues of adaptation or multiple life‐cycle stages. We surveyed 10 populations of Drosophila melanogaster selected for increased resistance to starvation for 60 generations, their paired controls, and their mutual ancestors (a total of 30 outbred populations) for evidence of physiological and life‐history trade‐offs that span life‐cycle stages. The directly selected lines showed an impressive response to starvation selection, with mature adult females resisting starvation death 4–6 times longer than unselected controls or ancestors—up to a maximum of almost 20 days. Starvation‐selected flies are already 80% more resistant to starvation death than their controls immediately upon eclosion, suggesting that a significant portion of their selection response was owing to preadult growth and acquisition of metabolites relevant to the stress. These same lines exhibited significantly longer development and lower viability in the larval and pupal stages. Weight and lipid measurements on one of the starvation‐selected treatments (SB1–5), its control populations (CB1–5), and their ancestor populations (B1–5) revealed three important findings. First, starvation resistance and lipid content were linearly correlated; second, larval lipid acquisition played a major role in the evolution of adult starvation resistance; finally, increased larval growth rate and lipid acquisition had a fitness cost exacted in reduced viability and slower development. This study implicates multiple life‐cycle stages in the response to selection for the stress resistance of only one stage. Our starvation‐selected populations illustrate a case that may be common in nature. Patterns of genetic correlation may prove misleading unless multiple pleiotropic interconnections are resolved.