Publications
Publications
2026
Nair A, Vasudeva R, Mitchell C, Hunt J, Hosken DJ, Sharma MD, Rajpurohit S. 2026. Temporal shifts in insect cuticular hydrocarbons 1 in response to experimental desiccation. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0359617
Chakraborty A, Rajpurohit S. 2026. Genomic signatures of cold adaptation in a Himalayan Drosophilid. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. G3 Genes Genomes Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkag190
Sharma BB, Rajpurohit S, Kodandaramaiah U. 2026. Pupal colour plasticity as a strategy against desiccation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voag099.
Rajpurohit S, Loeschcke V. 2026. Editorial-Global Change Biology 2025. Current Opinion in Insect Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101522
Chakraborty A, Rajpurohit S. 2026. Temperature preference and temperature tolerance are wired differently in Drosophila. Animal Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123438
Bitter M, Greenblum S, Rajpurohit S, Bergland A, Hemker J, Lappo J, Betancourt E, Beradi S, Oken H, Schmidt S, Dmitri P. 2026. Pervasive fitness trade-offs revealed by rapid adaptation to shifting population densities in large experimental populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Ecology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70363
2025
Nair A, Mayekar H, Sharma MD, Garg D, Mitchell C, Hosken DJ, Rajpurohit S. 2025. High altitude favours long-chained hydrocarbons in Drosophila. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voaf029
Berardi S, Rhodes JA, Berner MC, Greenblum SI, Bitter MC, Behrman EL, Betancourt NJ, Bergland AO, Petrov DA, Rajpurohit S, Schmidt P. 2025. Drosophila melanogaster pigmentation demonstrates adaptive phenotypic parallelism but genomic unpredictability over multiple timescales. Evolution Letters. https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qraf008
Garg D, Mayekar HV, Paikra S, Mishra M, Rajpurohit S. 2025. Wing-spot in a tropical and a temperate drosophilid: C=C and conserved thermal response. BMC Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02333-z
2024
Garg J, Dhotre K, Mayekar HV, Grewal RS, Rajpurohit S. 2024. Structural colouration in Drosophila wings is thermally plastic and exhibits ecological variation. Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1454212
Mayekar H, Rajpurohit S. 2024. No single rescue recipe: genome complexities modulate insect response to climate change. Current Opinion in Insect Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2024.101220
2023
Levesque DC, Wallis AL, Daypuk J, Petahtegoose J, Slobodian M, Sutherland-Hutchings AK, Black I, Vélez JM, Abood A, Wahbeh MH, Cejas RB, Cisneros AF, McNeil L, Konno K, McGregor L, Faroqi B, Bautisa C, Rajpurohit S, Garg D, Zhu J, Yang G, Arthur S, Merritt TJS. 2023. An Interactive Protocol for In-Classroom DNA Extraction. CourseSource 10. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2023.37
2022
Mayekar H, Ramkumar DK, Garg D, Nair A, Khandelwal A, Joshi K, Rajpurohit S. 2022. Clinal variation as a tool to understand climate change. Frontiers in Physiology. 13:880728. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.880728
Rudman SM, Greenblum SI, Rajpurohit S., Betancourt NJ, Hanna J, Tilk S, Yokoyama T, Petrov DA, Schmidt P. 2022. Direct observation of adaptive tracking on ecological timescales in Drosophila. Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.abj7484
# First three authors contributed equally to this work.
Media Coverage: The Scientist arsTECHNICA The Hindu The Times of India
2021
Arya H, Toltesi R, Eng M, Garg D, Merritt TJS, Rajpurohit S. 2021. No water, no mating: connecting dots from behaviour to pathways. PLOS One 16(6): e0252920. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252920
Media Coverage: The Times of India
Kapun M, Nunez JCB, Bogaerts-Márquez M, Murga-Moreno J, Paris M, Outten J, Coronado-Zamora M, Tern C, Rota-Stabelli O, García Guerreiro M, Casillas S, Orengo D, Puerma E, Kankare M, Ometto L, Loeschcke V, Onder BS, Abbott JK, Schaeffer SW, Rajpurohit S, Behrman EL, Schou MF, Merritt TJS, Lazzaro BP, Glaser-Schmitt A, Argyridou E, Staubach F, Wang Y, Tauber E, Serga SV, Fabian DK, Dyer KA, Wheat CW, Parsch J, Grath S, Veselinovic MS, Stamenkovic-Radak M, Jelic M, Buendía-Ruíz AJ, Gómez-Julián MJ, Espinosa-Jimenez ML, Gallardo-Jiménez FD, Patenkovic A, Eric K, Tanaskovic M, Ullastres A, Guio L, Merenciano M, Guirao-Rico S, Horváth V, Obbard DJ, Pasyukova E, Alatortsev VE, Vieira CP, Vieira J, Torres JR, Kozeretska I, Maistrenko OM, Montchamp-Moreau C, Mukha D, Machado H, Barbadilla A, Petrov D, Schmidt P, Gonzalez J, Flatt T, Bergland AO. 2021. Drosophila Evolution over Space and Time (DEST) - A New Population Genomics Resource. Molecular Biology & Evolution 38:5782-5805. https://doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab259
Maurya R, Swamy K, Loeschcke V, Rajpurohit S. 2021. No water, no eggs: insights from a warming outdoor mesocosm experiment. Ecological Entomology 46:1093-1100. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13053
Media Coverage: The Times of India
Bhati H, Rajpurohit S. 2021. Quantification of wing and body tergite pigmentation in Drosophila, In Experiments with Drosophila for Biology Courses, Ed. S C Lakhotia and H A Ranganath (Publisher Indian Academy of Sciences). Pages 239-245 https://bdsc.indiana.edu/pdf/Experiments_with_Drosophila_for_Biology_Courses.pdf
Machado HE, Bergland AO, Taylor R, Tilk S, Behrman E, Dyer K, Fabian DK, Flatt T, Gonzalez J, Karasov TL, Kim B, Kozeretska I, Lazzaro BP, Merritt TJS, Pool JE, O'Brien K, Rajpurohit S, Roy PR, Schaeffer SW, Serga S, Schmidt P, Petrov DA. 2021. Broad geographic sampling reveals the shared basis and environmental correlates of seasonal adaptation in Drosophila. Elife 10:267577. https://doi: 10.7554/eLife.67577
Betancourt N, Rajpurohit S, Durmaz E, Fabian D, Kapun M, Flatt T, Schmidt P. 2021. Allelic polymorphism at foxo contributes to local adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Ecology 30:2817-2830. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15939
Sharma S, Meghwanshi K, Patel S, Choudhary C, Mehta P, Shukla N, Do D, Rajpurohit S, Suravajhala P, Shukla J. 2021. Long non-coding RNAs in insects. Animals 11, 1118. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041118
Weller C, Tilk S, Rajpurohit S, Bergland A. 2021. Accurate, ultra-low coverage genome reconstruction and association studies in Hybrid Swarm mapping populations. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 11(4):jkab062. https://doi: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab062
Rajpurohit S, Vrkoslav V, Vrkoslav V, Hanus R, Gibbs AG, Cvacka J, Schmidt PS. 2021. Post-eclosion temperature effects on insect cuticular hydrocarbon profiles. Ecology & Evolution 11:352-364. https://doi.org/10.1002/eee3.7050
2020
Vasquez-Procopio J, Rajpurohit S, Missirlis F. 2020. Cuticle darkening correlates with increased body copper content in Drosophila melanogaster, Biometals. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-020-00245-1
2019
Rudman S, Greenblum S, Hughes R C, Rajpurohit S, Kiratli O, Lowder DB, Lemmon SG, Petrov D, Schmidt PS. 2019. Microbiome composition shapes rapid genomic adaptation of Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 116: 20025-20032
Media Coverage:
Rajpurohit S and Schmidt PS. 2019. Latitudinal pigmentation variation contradicts ultraviolet radiation exposure: a case study in tropical Indian Drosophila melanogaster. Frontiers in Physiology 10:84. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00084
Durmaz E, Rajpurohit S, Betancourt N, Fabian DK, Kapun M, Schmidt PS, Flatt T. 2019. A clinal polymorphism in the insulin signaling transcription factor foxo contribute to life-history adaptation in Drosophila. Evolution, 73:1774-1792
2018
Rajpurohit S, Gefen S, Bergland AO, Petrov D, Gibbs AG, Schmidt PS. 2018. Spatiotemporal dynamics and genome-wide association analysis of desiccation tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Ecology, 27: 3525-3540
Prior to joining Ahmedabad University
2017
Rajpurohit, S., Zhao, X., and Schmidt, P.S. 2017. A resource on latitudinal and altitudinal clines of ecologically relevant phenotypes of the Indian Drosophila. Scientific Data, 4:170066. DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2017.66
Etges, W.J., de Oliveira, C.C., Rajpurohit, S., and Gibbs, A.G. 2017. Effects of temperature on transcriptome and cuticular hydrocarbon expression in ecologically differentiated populations of desert Drosophila. Ecology & Evolution, 7: 619-637
Rajpurohit, S., Hanus, R., Vrkoslav, V., Behrman, E.L., Bergland, A., Dmitri, P., Cvacka, J., and Schmidt, P.S. 2017. Adaptive dynamics of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in Drosophila. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 30: 66-80
2016
Rajpurohit, S., Richardson, R., Dean, J., Vazquez, R., Wong, G. and Schmidt, P.S. 2016. Pigmentation and trade-off through the lens of artificial selection. Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0625.
Rajpurohit, S., Peterson, L.M., Orr, A., Marlon, A.J., and Gibbs, A.G. 2016. An experimental test of the relationship between melanism and desiccation survival in insects. PLoS One, 11(9):e0163414. doi:1371/journal.pone.0163414.
Rajpurohit, S. and Schmidt, P.S. 2016. Measuring thermal behavior in smaller insects: a case study in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrate effects of sex, geographic origin, and rearing temperature on adult behavior. Fly, 10: 149-161.
Etges, W.J., Oliveira de, C.C., Rajpurohit, S. and Gibbs, A.G. 2016. Preadult life-history variation determines adult transcriptome expression. Molecular Ecology, 23:741-763.
2015
Etges, W., Trotter, M.V., de Oliveira, C.C., Rajpurohit, S., Gibbs, A.G., and Tuljapurkar, S. 2015. Deciphering life history transcriptomics in different environments. Molecular Ecology, 24:151-179.
2013
Rajpurohit, S. and Nedved, O. 2013. Clinal variation in fitness related traits in tropical drosophilids of the Indian subcontinent. Journal of Thermal Biology, 38:345-354. (Review)
Rajpurohit, S., de Oliveira, C. C., Etges, W.J. and Gibbs, A.G. 2013. Functional genomic and phenotypic responses to desiccation in natural populations of desert drosophilid. Molecular Ecology, 22:2698-2715.
Rajpurohit, S., Nedved, O. and Gibbs, A.G. 2013. Meta-analysis of geographical clines in desiccation tolerance of Indian drosophilids. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 164:391-398.
2012
Rajpurohit, S. and Gibbs, A.G. 2012. Selection of body tergite pigmentation and correlated responses in trident: a case study in Drosophila melanogaster. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 106:287-294.
2011
Rajpurohit, S. and Marlon, A.J. 2011. Pigmentation scoring method for Drosophila. Drosophila Information Service, 94:134-139.
2010
Gibbs, A.G., and Rajpurohit, S. 2010. Cuticular Lipids and Water Balance. In Insect Hydrocarbons-Biology, Biochemistry, and Chemical Biology, G. J. Blomquist, ed. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Publisher), pp. 100-119. (Book Chapter)
2009
Parkash, R., Rajpurohit, S., and Ramniwas, S. 2009. Impact of darker, intermediate and lighter phenotypes of body melanisation on desiccation resistance in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Insect Science, 9:1-10. First two authors equally contributed.
2008
Parkash, R., Rajpurohit, S., and Ramniwas, S. 2008. Changes in body melanisation and desiccation resistance in highland vs. lowland populations of D. melanogaster. Journal of Insect Physiology, 54:1050-1056.
Rajpurohit, S., Parkash, R., and Ramniwas, S. 2008. Pigmentation, ovariole number and fecundity variations in lowland and highland populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Insect Science, 15:553-561.
Rajpurohit, S., Parkash, R., and Ramniwas, S. 2008. Climatic changes and shifting species boundaries of drosophilids in the western Himalaya. Acta Entomologica Sinica, 51:328-335.
*Rajpurohit, S., Parkash, R., and Ramniwas, S. 2008. Climate change, boundary increase and elongation of a pre-existing cline: a case study in Drosophila ananassae. Entomological Research, 38:268-275.
Rajpurohit, S., Parkash, R. and Ramniwas, S. 2008. Body melanization and its adaptive role in thermoregulation and tolerance against desiccating conditions in drosophilids. Entomological Research, 38:49-60.
2007
Parkash, R., Ramniwas, S., Rajpurohit, S., and Sharma, V. 2007. Variations in body melanization impact desiccation resistance in Drosophila immigrants from western Himalaya. Journal of Zoology, 276:219-227.
Rajpurohit, S., Parkash, R., Ramniwas, S., Nedved, O., and Singh, S. 2007. Parallel trend in pigmentation and desiccation tolerance: altitudinal and latitudinal effects in Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila Information Service, 90:70-79.
Pregent, S.R., and Rajpurohit, S. 2007. Genome, Evolution, Drosophila and Beyond. Fly 1:297-302. (Meeting Report)
2005
Parkash, R., Tyagi, P. K., Sharma, I., and Rajpurohit, S. 2005. Adaptations to environmental stress in altitudinal populations of two Drosophila species. Physiological Entomology, 30:353-361.