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The Effect of Dietary Restriction on Mitochondrial Protein Density and Flight Muscle Mitochondrial Morphology in Drosophila

¹ Department of Biology, University College London, United Kingdom.
² Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
³ MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Address correspondence to Linda Partridge, DPhil, University College London, Department of Biology, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. E-mail: l.partridge{at}ucl.ac.uk

Dietary restriction (DR) extends life span in diverse organisms and may do so by attenuating production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, measurements of ROS production from isolated mitochondria of organisms subjected to DR have produced inconsistent results. In the fruit fly Drosophila, DR does not reduce production of ROS from isolated mitochondria. In this study, we used Drosophila to test whether DR lowered mitochondrial density. We assessed mitochondrial densities of flies on DR and Control diets using (a) the activities of mitochondrial enzymes and (b) electron microscopy. Both methods showed no overall effect of DR on mitochondrial density; however, mitochondrial enzyme activities and morphology differed significantly between DR and Control flies. We concluded that life-span extension by DR in Drosophila is not mediated through a reduction in mitochondrial density. If DR in Drosophila extends life span by reducing ROS production, then it does so through mechanisms that operate only in vivo.