The effect of diet on food preferences and life history traits in Drosophila melanogaster
The effect of diet on food preferences and life history traits in Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila are capable of learning sensory information about their environment, however, whether they are capable of learning gustatory information about their larval environment and using this information to modify their adult behaviour is as yet unknown. A behavioural assay was therefore designed.
Varying the concentration of carbohydrate in the larval diet had varying effects on adult food preference depending on carbohydrate type. When sucrose and glucose concentrations in the larval diet were reduced, adults were more likely to feed on these reduced carbohydrate content media but for sucrose were less likely to lay their eggs on it. When trehalose and fructose concentration in the larval diet was reduced, adults showed no preference for either food medium to feed and lay their eggs on. Reducing the protein concentration in the larval diet led the adults having a preference for the high yeast medium to both feed and lay their eggs on.
When sucrose concentration in the larval diet of the learning and memory mutants dunce and rutabaga were varied there was no subsequent affect on adult food preferences. This was also the case when the mushroom bodies (the putative centres for learning and memory in insects) were ablated.
The aim of the final chapter of this thesis was to determine the affects of the food types used in the choice experiments on the health of the flies over 5 generations. Diet affected fecundity, development time, survival and larval locomotion. Diet had no effect on starvation resistance. High concentrations of NaCl in the diet reduced larval fitness increasingly over 5 generations and low levels of carbohydrate in the diet increased survival in subsequent generations. These results provide a strong case for the use of Drosophila as a model organism for understanding the developmental origins of health and disease in humans.
University of Southampton
Young, Sarah Anne
e96614a1-e074-4cf7-ab5e-40733e92d400
2007
Young, Sarah Anne
e96614a1-e074-4cf7-ab5e-40733e92d400
Young, Sarah Anne
(2007)
The effect of diet on food preferences and life history traits in Drosophila melanogaster.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Drosophila are capable of learning sensory information about their environment, however, whether they are capable of learning gustatory information about their larval environment and using this information to modify their adult behaviour is as yet unknown. A behavioural assay was therefore designed.
Varying the concentration of carbohydrate in the larval diet had varying effects on adult food preference depending on carbohydrate type. When sucrose and glucose concentrations in the larval diet were reduced, adults were more likely to feed on these reduced carbohydrate content media but for sucrose were less likely to lay their eggs on it. When trehalose and fructose concentration in the larval diet was reduced, adults showed no preference for either food medium to feed and lay their eggs on. Reducing the protein concentration in the larval diet led the adults having a preference for the high yeast medium to both feed and lay their eggs on.
When sucrose concentration in the larval diet of the learning and memory mutants dunce and rutabaga were varied there was no subsequent affect on adult food preferences. This was also the case when the mushroom bodies (the putative centres for learning and memory in insects) were ablated.
The aim of the final chapter of this thesis was to determine the affects of the food types used in the choice experiments on the health of the flies over 5 generations. Diet affected fecundity, development time, survival and larval locomotion. Diet had no effect on starvation resistance. High concentrations of NaCl in the diet reduced larval fitness increasingly over 5 generations and low levels of carbohydrate in the diet increased survival in subsequent generations. These results provide a strong case for the use of Drosophila as a model organism for understanding the developmental origins of health and disease in humans.
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Published date: 2007
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Local EPrints ID: 466550
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/466550
PURE UUID: d293c6e9-da1d-4d77-83ca-8f9c2ea23bd4
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 05:45
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:46
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Author:
Sarah Anne Young
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