Abstract
BackgroundDiet composition (yeast:carbohydrate ratio) is an important determinant of growth, development, and reproduction. Recent studies have shown that decreased yeast intake elicits numerous transcriptomic changes and enhances somatic maintenance and lifespan, which in turn reduces reproduction in various insects. However, our understanding of the responses leading to a decrease in yeast ratio to 0% is limited.ResultsIn the present study, we investigated the effects of a sugar-only diet (SD) on the gene expression patterns of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), one of the most economically important pests in the family Tephritidae. RNA sequencing analyses showed that flies reared on an SD induced significant changes in the expression levels of genes associated with specific metabolic as well as cell growth and death pathways. Moreover, the observed upregulated genes in energy production and downregulated genes associated with reproduction suggested that SD affects somatic maintenance and reproduction in B. dorsalis. As expected, we observed that SD altered B. dorsalis phenotypes by significantly increasing stress (starvation and desiccation) resistance, decreasing reproduction, but did not extend lifespan compared to those that received a normal diet (ND) regime. In addition, administration of an SD resulted in a reduction in antioxidant enzyme activities and an increase in MDA concentrations, thereby suggesting that antioxidants cannot keep up with the increase in oxidative damage induced by SD regime.ConclusionsThe application of an SD diet induces changes in phenotypes, antioxidant responses, and gene expressions in B. dorsalis. Previous studies have associated extended lifespan with reduced fecundity. The current study did not observe a prolongation of lifespan in B. dorsalis, which instead incurred oxidative damage. The findings of the present study improve our understanding of the molecular, biochemical, and phenotypic response of B. dorsalis to an SD diet.
Highlights
Diet composition is an important determinant of growth, development, and reproduction
More than 99.98% of the clean data was obtained from each sample for pair-end sequencing, and the length of sequence reads was 50 bp (Additional file 1: Table S1)
The FPKM density had a similar pattern in each sample of B. dorsalis, indicating that the transcriptome analysis of each diet was highly reproducible (Additional file 3: Figure S1)
Summary
Diet composition (yeast:carbohydrate ratio) is an important determinant of growth, development, and reproduction. Recent studies have shown that decreased yeast intake elicits numerous transcriptomic changes and enhances somatic maintenance and lifespan, which in turn reduces reproduction in various insects. Macronutrient balance is an important determinant of fitness, and previous studies have shown that altering the concentrations of yeast and sugar has a profound impact on the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster, thereby suggesting that dietary protein:carbohydrate (P:C) balance is the. Dietary proteins are essential for the growth and development of organisms, and a previous study has shown that D. melanogaster fed on a sugaronly diet (SD) can lead to the inhibition of cell growth and cell cycle progression [9]. Studies have been conducted to underlie the genetic and molecular mechanisms involved in different dietary status, which will assist in bettering understand the relationship among phenotype, gene expression, and the environment [14, 15]
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