The influence of developmental diet on reproduction and metabolism in Drosophila.
BACKGROUND
The adaptive significance of phenotypic changes elicited by environmental conditions experienced early in life has long attracted attention in evolutionary biology. In this study, we used Drosophila melanogaster to test whether the developmental diet produces phenotypes better adapted to cope with similar nutritional conditions later in life. To discriminate among competing hypotheses on the underlying nature of developmental plasticity, we employed a full factorial design with several developmental and adult diets. Specifically, we examined the effects of early- and late-life diets (by varying their yeast and sugar contents) on reproductive fitness and on the amount of energy reserves (fat and glycogen) in two wild-caught populations.


RESULTS
We found that individuals that had developed on either low-yeast or high-sugar diet showed decreased reproductive performance regardless of their adult nutritional environment. The lower reproductive fitness might be caused by smaller body size and reduced ovariole number. Overall, these results are consistent with the silver spoon concept, which posits that development in a suboptimal environment negatively affects fitness-associated traits. On the other hand, the higher amount of energy reserves (fat) in individuals that had developed in a suboptimal environment might represent either an adaptive response or a side-effect of compensatory feeding.


CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that the observed differences in the adult physiology induced by early-life diet likely result from inevitable and general effects of nutrition on the development of reproductive and metabolic organs, rather than from adaptive mechanisms.
['Klepsatel|Peter|P|0000-0002-8133-4445', 'Knoblochová|Diana|D|', 'Girish|Thirnahalli Nagaraj|TN|', 'Dircksen|Heinrich|H|', 'Gáliková|Martina|M|']
D000273:Adipose Tissue D000818:Animals D049628:Body Size D004032:Diet D004331:Drosophila melanogaster D004734:Energy Metabolism D005260:Female D005298:Fertility D056084:Genetic Fitness D006003:Glycogen D008297:Male D010641:Phenotype D012098:Reproduction D000073893:Sugars D015003:Yeasts
Nutrition Developmental plasticity Fat Glycogen Environmental matching Fecundity