Oxygen and temperature affect cell sizes differently among tissues and between sexes of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Spatio-temporal gradients in thermal and oxygen conditions trigger evolutionary and developmental responses in ectotherms’ body size and cell size, which are commonly interpreted as adaptive. However, the evidence for cell-size responses is fragmentary, as cell size is typically assessed in single tissues. In a laboratory experiment, we raised genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster at all combinations of two temperatures (16 °C or 25 °C) and two oxygen levels (10% or 22%) and measured body size and the sizes of cells in different tissues. For each sex, we measured epidermal cells in a wing and a leg and ommatidial cells of an eye. For males, we also measured epithelial cells of a Malpighian tubule and muscle cells of a flight muscle. On average, females emerged at a larger body size than did males, having larger cells in all tissues. Flies of either sex emerged at a smaller body size when raised under warm or hypoxic conditions. Development at 25 °C resulted in smaller cells in most tissues. Development under hypoxia resulted in smaller cells in some tissues, especially among females. Altogether, our results show thermal and oxygen conditions trigger shifts in adult size, coupled with the systemic orchestration of cell sizes throughout the body of a fly. The nature of these patterns supports a model in which an ectotherm adjusts its life-history traits and cellular composition to prevent severe hypoxia at the cellular level. However, our results revealed some inconsistencies linked to sex, cell type, and environmental parameters, which suggest caution in translating information obtained for single type of cells to the organism as a whole.