Affiliation: Institut Jacques Monod, Université de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France
Keywords: a. genome evolution; g. phylogenetics
Bioadhesives display remarkable physico-chemical properties that allow living organisms to stick to a great variety of surfaces. Drosophila larvae produce a glue to attach themselves to a substrate for several days during metamorphosis. This glue is mainly composed of 7 Salivary gland secretion (Sgs) proteins and Eig71Ee protein. Alignments of Sgs1, Sgs3, Sgs7, Sgs8 and Sgs3bis genomic regions across diverse Drosophila species reveal that Sgs3 has a high rate of duplication and deletion. Contrary to most of Drosophila species that attach to wood, leaves, or dry fruit skin, Drosophila suzukii larvae attach to fresh fruit skin or into the soil. Drosophila suzukii is an invasive pest species and represents a threat for fruit crops worldwide. We found that D. suzukii and it's closely-related species D. biarmipes adhere poorly to glass compared to D. melanogaster. Our current analysis suggests that this weak adhesion is due to a lower amount of glue produced by salivary glands. Our work paves the way for a better understanding of the genetic basis of glue adhesion and for future industrial applications.
Keywords: bioadhesives, Drosophila suzukii, adhesion, pupa, genes synteny