The Utilization of Sugars and Other Substances by Drosophila

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster is a broadly used model for gerontological research. Many studies are dedicated to understanding nutritional effects on ageing; however, the influence of dietary carbohydrate type and dosage is still poorly understood. We show that among three carbohydrates tested, fructose, glucose, and sucrose, the latter decreased life span by 13%-27%, being present in concentrations of 2%-20% in the diet. Life-span shortening by sucrose was accompanied by an increase in age-independent mortality. Sucrose also dramatically decreased the fecundity of the flies. The differences in life span and fecundity were determined to be unrelated to differential carbohydrate ingestion. The highest mitochondrial protein density was observed in flies fed sucrose-containing diet. However, this parameter was not affected by carbohydrate amount in the diet. Fly sensitivity to oxidative stress, induced by menadione, was increased in aged flies and was slightly affected by type and concentration of carbohydrate. In general, it has been demonstrated that sucrose, commonly used in recipes of Drosophila laboratory food, may shorten life span and lower egg-laying capability on the diets with very low protein content.

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“…One of the pioneering studies in this field was performed by Hassett (27). In general, our conditions closely resembled that report.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Specific Dietary Carbohydrates Differentially Influence the Life Span and Fecundity of Drosophila melanogaster

Lushchak

Gospodaryov

Rovenko

et al. 2013

The Journals of Gerontology: Series A

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“…Consistent with previous results, we found that sucrose, fructose, maltose, D-glucose, mannose, and sorbitol all robustly supported survival, indicating that they provide metabolically accessible energy to the flies (Fig. 1 A) (Hassett, 1948;Hassett et al, 1950;Burke and Waddell, 2011;Fujita and Tanimura, 2011). By contrast, L-fucose, L-glucose, ribose, and arabinose failed to substantially extend lifespan over water controls, suggesting that they have little or no nutritional value.…”

Section: Relationship Between Sugar Palatability and Nutritional Contentsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…We first wished to define the nutritive content and palatability (appetitive taste) of 10 sugars that previous studies in blowflies and Drosophila (Hassett, 1948;Hassett et al, 1950) To measure nutritional content, we housed adult flies in vials containing 1% agar with each individual sugar as their sole food source. Consistent with previous results, we found that sucrose, fructose, maltose, D-glucose, mannose, and sorbitol all robustly supported survival, indicating that they provide metabolically accessible energy to the flies (Fig.…”

Section: Relationship Between Sugar Palatability and Nutritional Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of Taste and Calorie Sensing inDrosophila

et al. 2012

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Animals use gustatory information to assess the suitability of potential food sources and make critical decisions on what to consume. For example, the taste of sugar generally signals a potent dietary source of carbohydrates. However, the intensity of the sensory response to a particular sugar, or "sweetness," is not always a faithful reporter of its nutritional value, and recent evidence suggests that animals can sense the caloric content of food independently of taste. Here, we demonstrate that the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster uses both taste and calorie sensing to determine feeding choices, and that the relative contribution of each changes over time. Using the capillary feeder assay, we allowed flies to choose between sources of sugars that varied in their ratio of sweetness to caloric value. We found that flies initially consume sugars according to taste. However, over several hours their preference shifts toward the food source with higher caloric content. This behavioral shift occurs more rapidly following food deprivation and is modulated by cAMP and insulin signaling within neurons. Our results are consistent with the existence of a taste-independent calorie sensor in flies, and suggest that calorie-based reward modifies long-term feeding preferences.

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“…The involvement of oxidative stress in D-galactose-induced life shortening has not been well studied in fruit flies and houseflies. We should emphasize that the life-shortening effect of Dgalactose is not due to the change of the optimal compositions of the diet because it has been shown that using other mono-or di-saccharides, such as fructose, maltose and sucrose to substitute D-glucose did not cause life-shortening (Hassett 1948). Jordens et al (1999) showed that D-galactose shorten the lifespan of Drosophila and R-deprenyl prevented the lifespan shortening.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

D-Galactose-caused life shortening in Drosophila melanogaster and Musca domestica is associated with oxidative stress

et al. 2004

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D-galactose causes aging acceleration in different animal models but the mechanism is unclear. In the present study, we investigated the effects of D-galactose on lifespan and oxidative stress biomarkers in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and housefly (Musca domestica). D-galactose was added to drinking water (20 mg/ml) for housefly and to culture medium (6.5%) for fruit fly from 24 h after emergence. Oxidative stress was estimated by measuring the activity of Cu-Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the levels of lipid peroxidation products, namely malondialdehyde (MDA) and lipofuscin in housefly brain (male) and in fruit fly (male and female). D-galactose caused a significant decrease in mean lifespan (by 12.6% of male and 15.9% of female) and maximum lifespan (by 12.9% of male and 17.1% of female) in fruit fly, and also a significant decrease in mean lifespan (by 27.1% of male, 19.8% of female) and maximum lifespan (by 27.1% of male, 21.9% of female) in housefly. MDA and lipofuscin increased with age in fruit fly and in housefly brains while change of the SOD activity showed a biphasic shape with age. D-galactose caused a significant increase in MDA and lipofuscin and decrease in SOD activity in the age-matched fruit flies and houseflies. These data indicate that D-galactose shortens the lifespan of the two different fly species and that the life shortening effect is associated with an increase in oxidative stress.

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The Utilization of Sugars and Other Substances by Drosophila

Abstract: Studies have been made of the use of carbohydrates and other food material by several insects, e.g. the honey-bee (

Cited by 66 publications

References 9 publications

Specific Dietary Carbohydrates Differentially Influence the Life Span and Fecundity of Drosophila melanogaster

Specific Dietary Carbohydrates Differentially Influence the Life Span and Fecundity of Drosophila melanogaster

Integration of Taste and Calorie Sensing inDrosophila

D-Galactose-caused life shortening in Drosophila melanogaster and Musca domestica is associated with oxidative stress

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