Neglecting larval rearing conditions in Drosophila melanogaster can negatively impact research on ageing

Abstract

The developmental conditions of Drosophila melanogaster flies can modify the phenotypic traits of adults. However, the control of these conditions is neglected by some authors in their articles and the readers are unaware, for instance, whether flies developed in crowded cultures or fed on a new or used medium. Controlling developmental conditions allows to know precisely the viability of flies, their duration of development and sex-ratio, which can be warning signals of bad rearing conditions. As developmental conditions can modify the results of experiments on the effects of ageing it is necessary to strictly control them.

Is lifespan linked with developmental viability in Drosophila melanogaster?

“…The viability of the wild-type strain Meyzieu, caught at the end of the 1970s near the city of Lyon (France) was observed from 1988 to 2016 at 25°C in nearly 800 weeks (see the whole results in Le Bourg, 2021a). Groups with a very low viability (see Fig.…”

A Link between Atmospheric Pressure and Fertility of Drosophila Laboratory Strains

“…Having been involved in neurohormonal stress response investigations in D. melanogaster model for many years [20,21], we always do our best to standardize the conditions of our research as much as possible in order to have a control group, which is not influenced by any stressors. Changes in diet or temperature of development can alter longevity and fertility as well as metabolism and hormonal levels [22][23][24]. Thus, flies in our experiments are always kept in incubators under controlled laboratory conditions.…”