Effect of different light regimes on esterase isozyme profiles of three species of Drosophila

Abstract

Circadian rhythm has been identified in every organism studied, from unicellular marine algae to man, and in virtually all physiological and biochemical functions. The endogenous circadian system functions to organize behaviour and physiology to adapt to and anticipate environment changes in light and temperature. The present study is an attempt to understand enzyme profiles (alpha and beta esterases) of Drosophila melanogaster (Oregon-K strain), Drosophila gangotrii and Drosophila jambulina under light/dark (LD), continuous light (LL) and continuous dark (DD) conditions over 30 generations. A polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (7.5% – native gel) was used to study the esterase isozyme banding patterns in three species of Drosophila. It has been noticed that there were three alpha esterase loci in Drosophila species which were designated as α-est 1, α-est 2 and α-est 3. Similarly there were three beta esterase loci which were designated as β-est 1, β-est 2 and β-est 3. Flies maintained in different light regimes showed differences in their allelic patterns with respect to alpha and beta esterases. It was observed that there was expression of some bands at a given light regime and the absence of the same in another regime. This shows that the different light regimes affect the expression of esterase isozymes.