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Acetic acid tolerance in Drosophila is a prerequisite for ethanol tolerance
Author(s) -
Th. Eisses Karel,
Den Boer Ar A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.1995.8040481.x
Subject(s) - acetic acid , ethanol , alcohol dehydrogenase , biology , drosophila melanogaster , alcohol , biochemistry , mutant , gene
Acetic acid tolerance compared with ethanol tolerance of Drosophila simulans and six Drosophila melanogaster strains shows a curvilinear relation with apparent asymptotic hyperbolic profile. The upper limit of acetic acid tolerance is lower than that for ethanol. We compared strains which had pairwise identical alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) coding regions but different genetic backgrounds. A positive regression existed for ethanol tolerance on ADH activity. Adh ‐null mutants with very low ethanol tolerances had appreciable acetic acid tolerances and as a consequence did not fit the curve. ADH‐F and ADH‐S strains selected for high ethanol tolerances had the ability to tolerate high ethanol concentrations even after selection had been relaxed for several years. These selected lines tolerated higher acetic acid concentrations than the non‐selected original strains. We propose that intake of high concentrations of ethanol and oxidation into acetic acid induces esterification of ethanol and acetic acid into ethylacetate. This cannot take place after the intake of acetic acid only, which also gives a lower energy yield.