Determination of the genomic variants interacting with Ampdeam gene which is involved in exercise performance in Drosophila melanogaster

In this thesis, it is aimed to find out the genes that interact with the AMPdeam gene which has been proven to be associated with exercise performance responses and energy metabolism, in Drosophila melanogaster. For this purpose, fully sequenced inbred DGRP strains were used to reveal genomic association. 106 DGRP strains were crossed with the mutant strain having the homozygous mutant allele of the focal gene (AMPdeam) and the control strain from which this strain was created. Among the individuals belonging to the F1 offspring, only the exercise performance scores of the female individuals were measured. Measurements were carried out for two age groups and exercise status. Multivariate anova performed on these measurements showed highly significant Strain x Genotype interactions. As these results pointed to the genes possibly interacting with AMPdeam, control-mutant means of the F1 offsprings from all ages and excercise regimes were used as inputs in the GWASes. As a result of the association analysis, genetic variants were determined by SNP hits. 58 genes for the exercising group and 46 genes for the non-exercising group were identified. The detected genes were evaluated in terms of chromosome locations, hit points, their effects on biological process and human orthologs. The results obtained show that the related genes are directly or indirectly related to energy metabolism. In this context, it can be said that important clues have been obtained about the genetic background of exercise performance responses and its relationship with energy metabolism. This unique thesis study, which aimed at an enlightenment of the functional framework of the genetic background of exercise performance, is thought to important contribution to the genetics of excercise performance by expanding the genetic reportoire of the genes that may relate to that character.