Fruit flies remember their larval diet, which influences their longevity
Summary
Scientists studied fruit flies and found that what they eat as larvae affects how long they live as adults. A special protein in the flies stores a "memory" of their larval diet, which changes how their bodies work later in life.Key Facts
- Researchers lowered the protein (yeast) in fruit fly larval diets, and these flies lived longer as adults.
- Flies on low-protein larval diets were smaller, lighter, and females laid fewer eggs.
- Adding amino acids back to the larval diet removed the lifespan extension.
- Scientists searched for proteins carrying the "nutritional memory" of the larval diet into adulthood.
- They used special isotopes to tag larval food and track which adult proteins came from larval amino acids.
- About half of the adult proteins in fly heads were made from larval amino acids, even days after metamorphosis.
- Ribosomal proteins, essential for making other proteins, were fewer in flies with protein-restricted larval diets.
- The storage protein "larval serum protein 2 (Lsp2)" was identified as holding the larval diet memory into adulthood.
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