Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Exp Gerontol. 2018 Sep;110:298-308. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.06.016. Epub 2018 Jun 20.
Conditions experienced during development have often long-lasting effects persisting into adulthood. In Drosophila, it is well-documented that larval crowding influences fitness-related traits such as body size, starvation resistance and lifespan. However, the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon is not well understood. Here, we show that the effects of increased larval density on life-history traits can be explained by decreased yeast availability in the diet during development. Yeast-poor larval diet alters various life-history traits and mimics the effects of larval crowding. In particular, reduced amount of yeast in larval diet prolongs developmental time, reduces body size, increases body fat content and starvation resistance, and prolongs Drosophila lifespan. Conversely, the effects of larval crowding can be rescued by increasing the concentration of the dietary yeast in the diet during development. Altogether, our results show that the well-known effects of larval crowding on life-history traits are mainly caused by the reduced availability of dietary yeasts due to increased larval competition.
发育过程中经历的条件往往会产生持久的影响，持续到成年。在果蝇中，有大量文献记录表明幼虫拥挤会影响与健康相关的特征，如体型、抗饥饿能力和寿命。然而，这种现象的潜在机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们表明，增加幼虫密度对生命史特征的影响可以通过发育过程中饮食中酵母可用性的降低来解释。酵母缺乏的幼虫饮食会改变各种生命史特征，并模拟幼虫拥挤的影响。特别是，幼虫饮食中酵母量减少会延长发育时间、降低体型、增加体脂肪含量和抗饥饿能力，并延长果蝇寿命。相反，通过增加发育过程中饮食中酵母的浓度可以挽救幼虫拥挤的影响。总之，我们的研究结果表明，幼虫拥挤对生命史特征的显著影响主要是由于幼虫竞争增加导致饮食中酵母可用性降低所致。
