View Program - 63rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference

Evolve-and-resequence approaches have been shown to dramatically alter both phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of populations under laboratory selective pressures. In this project, an outbred population made from wild-caught Drosophila was subjected to a control or high-sugar (HS) feeding paradigm for many generations. HS feeding reduces both the lifespan and healthspan in adult Drosophila. Sexes were separated and aged on either diet until mid-life, then mated to produce the next generation, allowing selection for protective alleles. Alleles that increase survival, metabolic homeostasis, and fecundity are hypothesized to be favored under the HS diet. We found that all selected populations increased their lifespan and healthspan over time. Four control and four HS-selected populations have been compared using pooled DNA sequencing coupled with RNA sequencing to identify specific, enriched loci that may have conferred protection against the negative sequelae of caloric excess. One cohort of genes identified across multiple HS-selected populations contained acetylcholine related genes including ChAT, CHT, and mAChR-m. We will use genetic approaches to test whether these genes mitigate overnutrition phenotypes, potentially revealing a novel link between the central nervous system and metabolism.

Experimental Evolution to identify genes that contribute to fitness in high-sugar-fed Drosophila melanogaster