Elevated temperature fatally disrupts nuclear divisions in the early Drosophila embryo
5 affiliations
- 1Centre for Organismal Studies, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. [email protected]
- 2Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. [email protected]
- 3Centre for Organismal Studies, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- 4Centre for Organismal Studies, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. [email protected]
- 5Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. [email protected]
Abstract
Temperature variations challenge animal survival, with elevated temperatures presenting distinct vulnerabilities throughout the animal life cycle. Embryonic development is especially vulnerable, though molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We address this in Drosophila melanogaster , an insect model with extensively characterized embryonic development. Here we show that pre-gastrulation development - syncytial blastoderm formation and cellularization - is particularly vulnerable to elevated temperature. Embryos exposed to elevated temperature during this period exhibit gastrulation defects and increased lethality. We observe mitotic failures causing loss of cortical nuclei during cellularization, preceded by a local nuclear crowding and increased division asynchrony; both features cooperatively amplify mitotic failures, leading to blastoderm holes. Mitotic failures trigger DNA damage response due to weakened cytoskeletal interaction. Genetic rescue experiments support the hypothesis that cortical F-actin and astral microtubule interaction is disrupted at elevated temperatures, causing mitotic failures. We propose that expression levels of corresponding genes could predict how increasing temperature variations affect insect populations.
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BibTeX
@article{kale2026elevated,
title = {{Elevated temperature fatally disrupts nuclear divisions in the early Drosophila embryo}},
author = {Girish Kale and Pratika Agarwal and J. Jaime Diaz-Larrosa and Steffen Lemke},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-72982-9},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72982-9},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Elevated temperature fatally disrupts nuclear divisions in the early Drosophila embryo
AU - Girish Kale
AU - Pratika Agarwal
AU - J. Jaime Diaz-Larrosa
AU - Steffen Lemke
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/21
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-72982-9
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72982-9
AB - Temperature variations challenge animal survival, with elevated temperatures presenting distinct vulnerabilities throughout the animal life cycle. Embryonic development is especially vulnerable, though molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We address this in Drosophila melanogaster , an insect model with extensively characterized embryonic development. Here we show that pre-gastrulation development - syncytial blastoderm formation and cellularization - is particularly vulnerable to elevated temperature. Embryos exposed to elevated temperature during this period exhibit gastrulation defects and increased lethality. We observe mitotic failures causing loss of cortical nuclei during cellularization, preceded by a local nuclear crowding and increased division asynchrony; both features cooperatively amplify mitotic failures, leading to blastoderm holes. Mitotic failures trigger DNA damage response due to weakened cytoskeletal interaction. Genetic rescue experiments support the hypothesis that cortical F-actin and astral microtubule interaction is disrupted at elevated temperatures, causing mitotic failures. We propose that expression levels of corresponding genes could predict how increasing temperature variations affect insect populations.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -