HSP90 and the quantitative variation of wing shape in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The molecular chaperone protein Hsp90 has been widely discussed as a candidate gene for developmental buffering. We used the methods of geometric morphometrics to analyze its effects on the variation among individuals and fluctuating asymmetry of wing shape in Drosophila melanogaster. Three different experimental approaches were used to reduce Hsp90 activity. In the first experiment, developing larvae were reared in food containing a specific inhibitor of Hsp90, geldanamycin, but neither individual variation nor fluctuating asymmetry was altered. Two further experiments generated lines of genetically identical flies carrying mutations of Hsp83, the gene encoding the Hsp90 protein, in heteroz..