Genetic and environmental factors impact age-related impairment of negative geotaxis in Drosophila by altering age-dependent climbing speed.

ABSTRACT: Age-related locomotor impairment in humans is important clinically because it is associated with several co-morbidities and increased risk of death. One of the hallmarks of age-related locomotor impairment in humans is a decrease in walking speed with age. Genetically tractable model organisms such as Drosophila are essential for delineating mechanisms underlying age-related locomotor impairment and age-related decreases in locomotor speed. Negative geotaxis, the ability of flies to move vertically when startled, is a common measure of locomotor behavior that declines with age in Drosophila. Toward further developing Drosophila as a model for age-related locomotor impairment, we investigated whether negative geotaxis reflects climbing or a combination of climbing and other behaviors such a

SUBMITTER: Rhodenizer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2591094 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature