Chandrakanth Mohankumar, Kumar Nishant, Sura Chand, Tung Sudipta
Integrated Genetics and Evolution Laboratory (IGEL), Department of Biology, Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana, India, 131029.
J Evol Biol. 2025 Jul 12. doi: 10.1093/jeb/voaf091.
Life-history traits such as body size, reproduction, survival, and stress resistance are fundamental to an organism's fitness and are highly influenced by nutritional environments across life stages. In this study, we employed a full factorial experimental design to investigate the effects of isocaloric diets (diets with equal caloric content but differing macronutrient composition) on key life-history traits in an outbred Drosophila melanogaster population. Our results demonstrated significant diet-induced plasticity, with male wing length (a proxy for body size) being influenced by the developmental diet; males reared on carbohydrate-rich developmental diets had larger wings as adults. Fertility increased with protein-rich diets at both developmental and adult stages, reaffirming the critical role of dietary protein in enhancing reproductive success. Lifespan exhibited sexually dimorphic responses to diet: carbohydrate-rich developmental diets extended male lifespan, while carbohydrate-rich adult diets reduced lifespan in both sexes. Stress resistance traits, including starvation and desiccation resistance, were unaffected by developmental diets but were influenced by adult diets, with carbohydrate-rich adult diets enhancing survival under both stress conditions in males and females. Importantly, while most traits exhibited additive effects of nutrition across life stages, a marginal interaction for male starvation resistance suggests that developmental and adult diets can interact in a trait- and sex-specific manner. Moreover, associations between dietary effects on life-history traits were context-dependent, driven primarily by adult diets and varying by sex. These findings emphasize the profound role of stage-specific nutritional environments in modulating life-history traits and their correlations, offering valuable insights into how organisms may adapt to changing ecological conditions and highlighting the importance of considering both developmental and adult dietary contexts in evolutionary studies.
诸如体型、繁殖、生存和抗逆性等生活史特征是生物体适应性的基础，并且在整个生命阶段受到营养环境的高度影响。在本研究中，我们采用了全因子实验设计，以研究等热量饮食（热量含量相同但常量营养素组成不同的饮食）对远交黑腹果蝇群体关键生活史特征的影响。我们的结果表明饮食诱导了显著的可塑性，雄性翅长（体型的一个指标）受到发育饮食的影响；在富含碳水化合物的发育饮食中饲养的雄性成虫翅膀更大。在发育阶段和成虫阶段，富含蛋白质的饮食都会提高生育力，再次证实了饮食蛋白质在提高繁殖成功率中的关键作用。寿命对饮食表现出性别二态性反应：富含碳水化合物的发育饮食延长了雄性寿命，而富含碳水化合物的成虫饮食缩短了两性的寿命。包括抗饥饿和抗干燥在内的抗逆性特征不受发育饮食的影响，但受成虫饮食的影响，富含碳水化合物的成虫饮食提高了雄性和雌性在两种应激条件下的存活率。重要的是，虽然大多数特征在整个生命阶段表现出营养的加性效应，但雄性抗饥饿能力的边际相互作用表明发育饮食和成虫饮食可以以特定性状和性别的方式相互作用。此外，饮食对生活史特征的影响之间的关联取决于背景，主要由成虫饮食驱动且因性别而异。这些发现强调了特定阶段营养环境在调节生活史特征及其相关性方面的深远作用，为生物体如何适应不断变化的生态条件提供了有价值的见解，并突出了在进化研究中考虑发育和成虫饮食背景的重要性。
