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Hawaiian Drosophila as an Evolutionary Model Clade: Days of Future Past
Author(s) -
O'Grady Patrick,
DeSalle Rob
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201700246
Subject(s) - drosophila (subgenus) , clade , biology , drosophila melanogaster , evolutionary biology , lineage (genetic) , prospectus , evolutionary dynamics , evolutionary ecology , model system , ecology , phylogenetics , genetics , gene , computational biology , demography , population , sociology , finance , economics , host (biology)
The Hawaiian Drosophila have been a model system for evolutionary, ecological, and ethological studies since the inception of the Hawaiian Drosophila Project in the 1960s. Here we review the past and present research on this incredible lineage and provide a prospectus for future directions on genomics and microbial interactions. While the number of publications on this group has waxed and waned over the years, we assert that recent systematic, biogeographic, and ecological studies have reinvigorated Hawaiian Drosophila as an evolutionary model system. The characteristics that distinguish good model clades from good model organisms (e.g., Drosophila melanogaster ) are somewhat different so we first define what constitutes a good evolutionary model. We argue that the Hawaiian Drosophila possess many desired aspects of a good evolutionary model, describe how this group of geographically isolated flies have been used in the past, and propose some exciting avenues for future evolutionary research on this diverse, dynamic clade of Drosophila .