Single-nucleus multiome sequencing reveals the molecular basis of thermal acclimation in Drosophila melanogaster embryos.

Authors

Thomas S O'Leary, Emily E Mikucki, Sumaetee Tangwancharoen, Joseph R Boyd, Sara Helms Cahan, Seth Frietze, Brent L Lockwood

Published in

Development (Cambridge, England). Sep 14, 2026. Epub Sep 14, 2026.

Abstract

Embryogenesis is remarkably robust to temperature variability, yet the homeostatic mechanisms that offset thermal effects during early development remain poorly understood. We measured how acclimation shifts the upper thermal limit and profiled chromatin accessibility and gene expression in D. melanogaster embryos using single-nucleus multiome sequencing. Acclimation preserved shared primordial cell types yet rapidly shifted heat tolerance. Cool-acclimated embryos showed a homeostatic response characterized by increased accessibility at binding motifs for the transcriptional activator Zelda, along with enhanced activity of gene regulatory networks in a subset of primordial cell types including the gut, muscle, and nervous system. Cool-acclimated embryos also had higher expression of ribosomal and oxidative phosphorylation genes, suggesting a coordinated increase in translation and energy production to buffer slower biochemical kinetics in the cold. Our results indicate that maintaining developmental robustness across temperature requires homeostatic gene expression responses that may carry metabolic costs constraining upper thermal limits.

PMID:
42734041
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.