A lack of available food resources drives many species to forego reproduction until conditions improve. In other words, there is a trade-off between reproduction and foraging. This link was the subject of a recent study of Drosophila melanogaster published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.
To examine the link, researchers placed fed or food-deprived Drosophila into a testing arena with another animal of the opposite sex who was fed. Food was not provided in the arena. The researchers found that hungry (hangry??) female, but not male, Drosophila reduced their mating behaviors and were less willing to copulate with males. If the females were fed yeast or glucose for 48 hours prior to the trial, however, the effects of food deprivation were prevented. When the researchers prevented glucose metabolism, the effects of feeding yeast were reduced. These findings show that the glucose content of the yeast mixture is required for female Drosophila reproductive behaviors. However, too much glucose can backfire as a prior study published last year in Development showed that excess dietary glucose reduces fertility in female Drosophila.
Interestingly, a prior study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution showed that sperm and a protein found in seminal fluid cause female Drosophila to become more aggressive to other females after copulation.
Sources:
A Ceretti, Z Yang, JE Schneider. Metabolic pathways that mediate the effects of food deprivation on reproductive behavior in female Drosophila melanogaster. American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. [Online ahead of print]
E Bath, S Bowden, C Peters, A Reddy, JA Tobias, E Easton-Calabria, N Seddon, SF Goodwin, S Wigby. Sperm and sex peptide stimulate aggression in female Drosophila. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1: 0154, 2017.
RD Nunes, D Drummond-Barbosa. A high-sugar diet, but not obesity, reduces female fertility in Drosophila melanogaster. Development. 150(20): dev201769, 2023.
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Categories: Reproduction and Development
Tags: American Journal of Physiology, American Physiological Society, Drosophila, food deprivation, science
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 
