Abstract
Insulin plays a major role in connecting nutrient availability to energy homeostasis by regulating metabolic pathways. Defects in insulin signalling is the primary cause for diabetes, obesity and various metabolic disorders. Nutritional status during growth and developmental stages play a crucial role in determining adult size, fecundity and ageing. However, the association between developmental nutrition and adult metabolic disorders has not been fully explored. Here, we address the effects of nutrient status during the larval growth phase on adult metabolism in Drosophila. We report that restricted food supply in larvae led to higher fat reserves and starvation resistance in mature adult flies, which we attribute to low insulin signalling. A lesser amount of stored fat was mobilised during early adult stages and during acute starvation, which accounts for the metabolic effects. Furthermore, larval diet influenced the expression of fat mobilisation genes brummer and lipid storage droplet-2 in adult flies, which led to the metabolic phenotypes reported here. Thus, the restricted nutrient environment in developing larvae led to adaptive changes that entrain the adult flies for scarce food availability.
Highlights
Nutrients are inevitable to meet the energy requirements for the normal development and functioning of all living organisms
Drosophila larvae were reared on fly food prepared at various dilutions ranging from 25% to 75% of the normal fly media to study the effects of larval diet restriction on adult metabolism
Male flies that emerged from diet-restricted larvae were aged for five days on normal fly food and various metabolic parameters were analyzed in these mature adult flies
Summary
Nutrients are inevitable to meet the energy requirements for the normal development and functioning of all living organisms. During periods of excess supply, nutrients are stored as the energy source for phases of limited food availability and for activities that demand excess energy. Both intrinsic genetic factors and environmental influences cause imbalances in nutrient homeostasis [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Maintenance of nutrient homeostasis at specific life stages is crucial for the proper functions performed during that life stage [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Recent reports suggest that proper nutrient balance during developmental stages plays a crucial role in managing biological functions in the adult organism [15,16,17,18,19,20]
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