Fertility Analyses in Long-Lived, High-Sugar Adapted Drosophila

Author: Arlene Shaji

Field of Study: Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math

Program Affiliation: Summer Scholars and Artists Program (SSAP)

Faculty Mentors: Laura Musselman

Easel: 32

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: In the United States, more than 2 in 5 adults have obesity, largely due to unhealthy, high-calorie diets. The Musselman lab aims to understand mechanisms enhancing fitness in individuals who overeat. In Drosophila melanogaster, longer lifespans were observed in flies adapted over many generations on high-sugar diets. To understand the effects of this adaptation on fly fitness and potential tradeoffs, the fertility of long-lived flies were compared to control diet-fed flies. Egg laying was quantified using charcoal agar plates. The plates were manually counted and a complementary paradigm was developed to quantify eggs using ImageJ, to allow comparisons across populations. The results generally showed a higher amount of eggs laid for the high-sugar-adapted population for females, whereas there was little to no difference in the fertility of adapted males. These results suggest that fertility, an age-dependent phenotype, is improved in long-lived females, but not long-lived males.