Seminal fluid protein divergence among populations exhibiting postmating prezygotic reproductive isolation

Despite holding a central role in fertilization, reproductive traits often show elevated rates of evolution and diversification. The rapid evolution of seminal fluid proteins (Sfps) within populations is predicted to cause mis‐signalling between the male ejaculate and the female during and after mating resulting in postmating prezygotic (PMPZ) isolation between populations. Crosses between Drosophila montana populations show PMPZ isolation in the form of reduced fertilization success in both noncompetitive and competitive contexts. Here we test whether male ejaculate proteins produced in the accessory glands or ejaculatory bulb differ between populations using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. We find more than 150 differentially abundant proteins between populations that may contribute to PMPZ isolation, including a number of proteases, peptidases and several orthologues of Drosophila melanogaster Sfps known to mediate fertilization success. Males from the population that elicit the stronger PMPZ isolation after mating with foreign females typically produced greater quantities of Sfps. The accessory glands and ejaculatory bulb show enrichment for different gene ontology (GO) terms and the ejaculatory bulb contributes more differentially abundant proteins. Proteins with a predicted secretory signal evolve faster than nonsecretory proteins. Finally, we take advantage of quantitative proteomics data for three Drosophila species to determine shared and unique GO enrichments of Sfps between taxa and which potentially mediate PMPZ isolation. Our study provides the first high‐throughput quantitative proteomic evidence showing divergence of reproductive proteins between populations that exhibit PMPZ isolation

Impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease:predominant role of psychological determinants

Objectives: Impulse Control Disorders (ICDs) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have previously almost exclusively been considered to result from anti-parkinsonian medication. However, this biomedical perspective has failed to achieve a full understanding of the phenomenon and it is argued that a failure to consider psychological factors is a critical omission. Design: The present study examined the predictive relationship between ICDs in PD and a range of psychological measures, whilst controlling for a number of biomedical determinants. Main outcome measures: One hundred participants with idiopathic PD completed questionnaires that assessed demographic and clinical characteristics, psychological measures and the presence of ICDs (QUIP-RS). Results: Increased use of a ‘negative’ coping strategy, stronger illness identity, more emotional illness representations and stress were found to be significant predictors of ICDs, and different psychological predictors were associated with different ICDs. Medication was not found to predict ICDs in the presence of psychological factors, either when total treatment levels were considered or when agonist dose was considered alone. Conclusions: This study provides the first quantitative evidence of a predominant predictive relationship between psychological factors and ICDs in PD. The results suggest that psychological interventions may have useful therapeutic role to play for ICDs in PD

Experimental sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life‐history traits

Sexual selection and sexual conflict are expected to affect all aspects of the phenotype, not only traits that are directly involved in reproduction. Here, we show coordinated evolution of multiple physiological and life-history traits in response to long-term experimental manipulation of the mating system in populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura. Development time was extended under polyandry relative to monogamy in both sexes, potentially due to higher investment in traits linked to sexual selection and sexual conflict. Individuals (especially males) evolving under polyandry had higher metabolic rates and locomotor activity than those evolving under monogamy. Polyandry individuals also invested more in metabolites associated with increased endurance capacity and efficient energy metabolism and regulation, namely lipids and glycogen. Finally, polyandry males were less desiccation- and starvation resistant than monogamy males, suggesting trade-offs between resistance and sexually selected traits. Our results provide experimental evidence that mating systems can impose selection that influences the evolution of non-sexual phenotypes such as development, activity, metabolism and nutrient homeostasis

Experimental sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life?history traits

Sexual selection and sexual conflict are expected to affect all aspects of the phenotype, not only traits that are directly involved in reproduction. Here, we show coordinated evolution of multiple physiological and life-history traits in response to long-term experimental manipulation of the mating system in populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura. Development time was extended under polyandry relative to monogamy in both sexes, potentially due to higher investment in traits linked to sexual selection and sexual conflict. Individuals (especially males) evolving under polyandry had higher metabolic rates and locomotor activity than those evolving under monogamy. Polyandry individuals also invested more in metabolites associated with increased endurance capacity and efficient energy metabolism and regulation, namely lipids and glycogen. Finally, polyandry males were less desiccation- and starvation resistant than monogamy males, suggesting trade-offs between resistance and sexually selected traits. Our results provide experimental evidence that mating systems can impose selection that influences the evolution of non-sexual phenotypes such as development, activity, metabolism and nutrient homeostasis

A new scale measuring adaptive perceived control for people with Parkinson's: initial construction and further validation

Introduction Perceived control is an important concept in understanding adjustment to chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s. While generic measures have been used to measure the construct in Parkinson’s, no Parkinson’s-specific scale currently exists. This study outlines the initial development and further validation of a free-to-use scale, the Parkinson’s UK Scale of Perceived Control (PUKSoPC). Method Focus groups were used to create items for the new scale. Potential items were then subject to screening for readability and coherence by people affected by the condition. This left 49 items that were then completed, along with other measures, by 231 people with Parkinson’s. Exploratory factor analysis then created a 15-item scale with five distinct subscales. This initial structure was then further tested using confirmatory factor analysis with 2032 people with Parkinson’s. Structural equation modelling confirmed the acceptability of the total scale and subscale structures. Results The final scale is concluded to be a psychometrically robust measure of perceived control. It has good face validity, evidence of convergent and criterion (concurrent and divergent) validity, good test-retest reliability and is internally coherent, with a demonstrably solid factor structure. While further testing would be useful to assess the scale’s predictive ability, it is currently considered robust enough for more widespread use. Conclusion The PUKSoPC is an appropriate scale to provide a more comprehensive measure of perceived control. It is preferable to single item, non-validated measures and can provide evidence of perceptions of control across a number of domains important in the measurement of the construct

Cold adaptation drives population genomic divergence in the ecological specialist, Drosophila montana

Funding: UK Natural Environment Research Council (Grant Number(s): NE/L501852/1, NE/P000592/1); Academy of Finland (GrantNumber(s): 267244, 268214, 322980), Ella ja Georg Ehrnroothin Säätiö.Detecting signatures of ecological adaptation in comparative genomics is challenging, but analysing population samples with characterised geographic distributions, such as clinal variation, can help identify genes showing covariation with important ecological variation. Here, we analysed patterns of geographic variation in the cold-adapted species Drosophila montana across phenotypes, genotypes and environmental conditions and tested for signatures of cold adaptation in population genomic divergence. We first derived the climatic variables associated with the geographic distribution of 24 populations across two continents to trace the scale of environmental variation experienced by the species, and measured variation in the cold tolerance of the flies of six populations from different geographic contexts. We then performed pooled whole genome sequencing of these six populations, and used Bayesian methods to identify SNPs where genetic differentiation is associated with both climatic variables and the population phenotypic measurements, while controlling for effects of demography and population structure. The top candidate SNPs were enriched on the X and fourth chromosomes, and they also lay near genes implicated in other studies of cold tolerance and population divergence in this species and its close relatives. We conclude that ecological adaptation has contributed to the divergence of D. montana populations throughout the genome and in particular on the X and fourth chromosomes, which also showed highest interpopulation FST. This study demonstrates that ecological selection can drive genomic divergence at different scales, from candidate genes to chromosome-wide effects.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Garlovksy and Snook 2018 Ecology and Evolution

Data file consists of 5 excel workbook pages, where each page contains data from a different experiment presented in the paper. Readme file provides the link between these data and figures/tables in the paper, describing what each column of data signifies