A simple high throughput assay to evaluate water consumption in the fruit fly.

ABSTRACT: Water intake is essential for survival and thus under strong regulation. Here, we describe a simple high throughput system to monitor water intake over time in Drosophila. The design of the assay involves dehydrating fly food and then adding water back separately so flies either eat or drink. Water consumption is then evaluated by weighing the water vessel and comparing this back to an evaporation control. Our system is high throughput, does not require animals to be artificially dehydrated, and is simple both in design and implementation. Initial characterisation of homeostatic water consumption shows high reproducibility between biological replicates in a variety of experimental conditions. Water consumption was dependent on ambient temperature and humidity and was equal between sexes wh

SUBMITTER: Lau MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5711950 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature