Award Date

12-15-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Life Sciences

First Committee Member

Allen Gibbs

Second Committee Member

Mira Han

Third Committee Member

Donald Price

Fourth Committee Member

Amei Amei

Number of Pages

99

Abstract

Previous studies in the Gibbs lab have shown that starvation resistant Drosophila melanogaster flies have increased lipid content, lower metabolic rates, and poor physiological health. Historically, many evolutionary studies end at the phenotypic level, leaving the genomic basis largely unresolved. Using Evolve and Resequence (E&R) study, we can map genome-wide allele-frequency trajectories under selection, linking phenotypic shifts to their genomic underpinnings. This study utilized the E&R approach to identify enriched biological processes and pathways underlying starvation adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster. Five replicate restart populations (RS A–E) selected for starvation resistance, along with a control (RC), were resequenced at Generations 1, 3, 5, and 9. For each generation, we intersected significant SNPs (chi-squared, FDR, drift filter) across RS A–E to define core loci, then mapped them to genomic coordinates and genes as candidates for gene ontology analysis. In parallel, we profiled the microbiome to test whether starvation selection altered community composition across generations. To assess selection-associated changes, we contrasted RS A–E with RC at each generation and evaluated community composition (relative abundance, α-diversity, β-diversity, and Wolbachia abundance). We observed a rapid, polygenic genomic response enriched for neural and energy-metabolic pathways, whereas the microbiome remained stable at the family level over 10 generations, even after excluding Wolbachia. Overall, our findings show that starvation adaptation is driven mainly by genomic changes, while the microbiome stays stable, giving clear targets for future functional tests.

Keywords

bioinformatics; Drosophila melanogaster; gene ontology; microbial analysis; microbiome

Disciplines

Bioinformatics | Biology | Life Sciences

File Format

PDF

File Size

3900 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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