Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 54, Issue 5 B192-B198, Copyright © 1999 by The Gerontological Society of America
The effects of nutritional manipulation and laboratory selection on lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster
TJ Nusbaum and MR Rose
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine 92697, USA.
There are parallels between the effects of laboratory selection and
nutritional manipulation on the expression of lifespan and other
fitness-related characters in Drosophila melanogaster. However, little is
known about the effects of laboratory selection and nutritional
manipulation when applied simultaneously. Given that D. melanogaster is one
of the major model organisms for testing theories of aging, simultaneous
application of laboratory selection and nutritional manipulation is of
considerable interest. To that end we developed six groups of five fold
replicated populations selected for either early or late fertility. Each of
these groups was maintained on either high- or low-nutrition diets.
Comparisons among the groups showed that nutrition is neutral in selecting
for lifespan. Moreover, the dietary-restriction response can be broken by
simultaneous selection and nutritional manipulation. Finally, characters
that respond in a parallel manner under selection or nutritional
manipulation may not when the two are applied simultaneously.
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