High temperature of development and selection of Bacillus thuringiensis-supernatant-resistant females in a Drosophila melanogaster Oregon R strain

Abstract

The supernatant of Bacillus thuringiensis cultures contains a thermostable toxin: the beta exotoxin or thuringiensin, which in vivo acts as a preferential inhibitor of ribosomal RNA synthesis. Added to Drosophila melanogaster culture medium, it induces, during the flies' development, a lethal effect that is, in our Oregon R strain, greater for females than for males. The authors have previously shown that a diminution of the ribosomal DNA amount increases the sensitivity to the lethal effect of the supernatant. From a stock subjected for several generations to a 28 degrees C temperature and more, they have spontaneously obtained a variant population where males and females have similar resistance. It is shown here that this difference between the two populations is expressed in the X/X female genotypes, and that there is a correlation between the sensitivity to the lethal effect of the Berliner Bacillus thuringiensis supernatant and the sensitivity to the effect of the 28 degrees C developmental temperature; genotypes resistant to the lethal effect of the temperature were positively selected when the temperature of development was increased. The better resistance of these genotypes could be related to more active ribosomal units on the X chromosome.