Polygenic adaptation to overnutrition reveals a role for cholinergic signaling in longevity.

ABSTRACT: Overnutrition by high-sugar (HS) feeding reduces both the lifespan and healthspan across taxa. Pressuring organisms to adapt to overnutrition can highlight genes and pathways important for the healthspan in stressful environments. We used an experimental evolution approach to adapt four replicate, outbred population pairs of Drosophila melanogaster to a HS or control diet. Sexes were separated and aged on either diet until mid-life, then mated to produce the next generation, allowing enrichment for protective alleles over time. All HS-selected populations increased their lifespan and were therefore used as a platform to compare allele frequencies and gene expression. Pathways functioning in the nervous system were overrepresented in the genomic data and showed evidence for parallel

SUBMITTER: Rundell TB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10312690 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature