Transient and permanent experience with fatty acids changes Drosophila melanogaster preference and fitness.

ABSTRACT: Food and host-preference relies on genetic adaptation and sensory experience. In vertebrates, experience with food-related cues during early development can change adult preference. This is also true in holometabolous insects, which undergo a drastic nervous system remodelling during their complete metamorphosis, but remains uncertain in Drosophila melanogaster. We have conditioned D. melanogaster with oleic (C18:1) and stearic (C18:0) acids, two common dietary fatty acids, respectively preferred by larvae and adult. Wild-type individuals exposed either during a transient period of development-from embryo to adult-or more permanently-during one to ten generation cycles-were affected by such conditioning. In particular, the oviposition preference of females exposed to each fatty acid during

SUBMITTER: Flaven-Pouchon J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3965419 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature