Population- and sex-biased gene expression in the excretion organs of Drosophila melanogaster

We used RNA-seq to investigate gene expression variation in Malpighian tubules, which have a function analogous to that of human kidneys. In order to characterize population differentiation, we sequenced the Malpighian tubule transcriptomes of flies derived from two populations, one from sub-Saharan Africa (Zimbabwe) and one from Europe (the Netherlands). Males and females were examined separately. Overall, we found a high amount of differential expression between sexes (2,308 genes) and populations (2,474 genes). Although most of the differentially expressed genes were consistent between sexes and populations, there were 615 genes showed sex-biased expression in only one population and 557 genes showed population-biased expression in only one sex. Overall design: mRNA expression profiles of Drosophila melanogaster Malpighian tubules from adult males and females from a European and an African population (2 biological replicates per sex and population)

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Huylmans AK, Parsch J