Meeting Abstract

108.5  Tuesday, Jan. 7 09:15  The Effects of Age and Lifetime Flight Behavior on Flight Capacity in Drosophila melanogaster LANE, S.J.*; FRANKINO, W.A.; ELEKONICH, M.M.; ROBERTS, S.P.; Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant; Univ. of Houston, Texas; National Science Foundation & Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas; Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant steven.lane@umontana.edu

The effects of flight behavior on physiology and senescence may be profound in insects due to the extremely high metabolic costs of flight. Previous studies have shown that flight capacity decreases with age, and that flies prohibited from flying had longer lives and slower age-related loss of antioxidant capacity and accumulation of oxidative damage in flight muscles. Using Drosophila melanogaster, we tested the effects of age and lifetime flight behavior on wingbeat frequency, metabolic rate, and the ability to fly in a hypo-dense gas mixture. Specifically, 5-day old adult flies were separated into three life-long treatments: (A) those not allowed to fly (no flight), (B) those allowed – but not forced – to fly (voluntary flight), and (C) those mechanically stimulated to fly (induced flight). Flight capacity senesced earliest in flies from the no-flight treatment, followed by the induced-flight group and then the voluntary flight group. Wingbeat frequency senesced with age in all treatment groups but was greatest in the voluntary and induced flight groups. Metabolic rate during agitated flight senesced earliest and most rapidly in the induced flight group, and was low and uniform across ages in the no-flight group. Early senescence in the induced flight group was likely due to the acceleration of effects such as the rapid accumulation of damage at the cellular level, while the early loss of flight capacity and low metabolic rates in the no-flight group demonstrate that disuse effects can also significantly alter senescence patterns of whole-insect performance.