Drosophila melanogaster as a model system in studying nutrition – the knowledge obtained in work with fly strains maintained for more than two decades on different diets

Abstract

Fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been representing one of the most suitable model systems for studying underlying mechanisms in various biological research for more than a hundred years. Findings in the field of genetics and genomics certainly paved the way for this model system to be used in the study of the mechanisms underlying complex human diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and others. It can be also used in studying the effects of nutrition and/or malnutrition, and to some extent, be extrapolated to humans. In the year 2000, we collected D. melanogaster flies from natural population and established and maintained five “nutritional” strains. Flies were reared on standard cornmeal laboratory food and four fruit/vegetable diets. All substrates were analysed for protein/carbohydrate ratios, and their antioxidant properties were established. During the years of running in vivo studies, we have shown that diet can affect individuals on many levels. As the most pertinent to the fitness, we observed the impact of diet on body morphology (the size, shape and symmetry of certain body traits), the chemistry of odors essential for social and sexual recognition, behavior, and life history traits. We also considered food choice in those flies in order to find out how they maintained nutritional homeostasis. In addition, we experimented with standard Drosophila diet by adding chemicals and some bioactive plant components in growing substrates (such as the black chokeberry fruit extract), widely used as a supplementary source in human diet and medicine. Here we will present a short overview of the most important results of our research, dealing with the fruit fly nutrition. Having in mind the key similarity in some metabolic pathways in Drosophila and mammals, our studies could be applicable for understanding the possible effects of various diets, drug-treatments and their potential benefits for humans.