View Program - 63rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference

Nutrient availability is a component of environment that impacts metabolism and organismal fitness. How nutrient-limitation affects organismal survival remains unclear, in part because we do not understand the extent of genetic variation in metabolic response to this environment. Research has established that limiting nutritional availability via a periodic fasting treatment produces health benefits including longevity and starvation resistance across a broad range of taxa, though this work has commonly avoided assaying natural populations. To expand our understanding of how clines such as space and time impact an organism’s physiological response to a nutrient-limiting environment, we are establishing a study system from environmentally-distinct populations of Drosophila melanogaster. We will sample and create lineages from latitudinally and seasonally varying populations, and leverage the genetic differences between these populations to explore variance in the ability of periodic fasting to improve starvation resistance. In the forthcoming assays: flies will be removed from nutrients for varying extents during early adult life, and their subsequent starvation resistance, fat storage levels, and fat storage dynamics measured throughout adult life. Early results lead us to hypothesize that while three weeks of periodic fasting can improve starvation resistance, this effect is line specific and subject to variation. Moreover, while measurements of fat concentrations will decrease post fasting, fasted-flies will be able to utilize existing reserves with higher efficiency during starvation. This work aims to indicate how schedules of nutrient limitations lead to changes to starvation resistance across natural populations, and how mechanisms of fat storage and lipophagy mediate this variation.

Mechanisms of Action and Natural Variation within Fasting-induced Starvation Resistance in Drosophila