High impact information on desert

• The four Drosophila species endemic to the Sonoran Desert (Drosophila mettleri, Drosophila mojavensis, Drosophila nigrospiracula, and Drosophila pachea) utilize necrotic cactus tissue or soil soaked by rot exudate as breeding substrates [1].
• We found that Sonic hedgehog and Desert hedgehog are expressed in the developing retina, albeit at very low levels, whereas Indian hedgehog (Ihh) is expressed in the developing and mature retinal pigmented epithelium, beginning at embryonic day 13 [2].
• In a molecular evolutionary study, we find that the vertebrate homologs of the Drosophila hh gene arose by two gene duplications: the first gave rise to Desert hh, whereas the second produced the Indian and Sonic hh genes [3].
• Ecology and population genetics of Sonoran Desert Drosophila [4].
• Vertebrate Sonic-type genes typically show conserved expression in the notochord and floor plate, while Desert- and Indian-type genes have different patterns of expression in vertebrates from different classes [5].

Biological context of desert

• Drosophila hedgehog and its vertebrate orthologs, Sonic hedgehog, Indian hedgehog, and Desert hedgehog, share a generally conserved signal transduction cascade [6].
• In this system, which occurs naturally in the Sonoran Desert of North America, ectoparasitism significantly damages the expression of host fitness traits, including longevity, fecundity and male mating success [7].

Associations of desert with chemical compounds

• Several species of columnar cacti in the Sonoran Desert contain isoquinoline alkaloids that are toxic to all but the resident drosophilids that feed and breed in necrotic stems [8].

References