Meeting Abstract

67.3  Jan. 7  Physiological Consequences of Folic Acid in the Fruit Fly BLATCH, S.A.*; HARRISON, J.F.; Arizona State Univ.; Arizona State Univ. sydella.blatch@asu.edu

Folic acid is essential for DNA synthesis and methylation, a form of epigenetic regulation. Irregularities in folate metabolism have been linked with a host of diseases, but the mechanisms remain unclear. The fruit fly is well-suited to explore these relationships since it has a short lifespan and well-characterized development. This study asks how dietary folate affects the fitness of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We measured aspects of growth and development on 20 in four treatment groups, 0, 30, 100, or 300% required dietary folate. We examined flies born into the dietary treatments (F1) as well flies whose parents were also born into the dietary groups (F2). Based on mammalian studies, we predicted that increasing folate supply would increase growth and fitness in both generations. In F1, there were very few differences observed due to folate, suggesting maternal transfer of folate. In F2, the 0 and 300% folate flies laid fewer eggs, but the eggs developed sooner, were more likely to become pupae from the larval stage, and grew faster than the 30 and 100% groups. The tradeoff between egg-laying rate and offspring growth/development rates suggest that folate influences egg quality. This could be due to low and high rates of DNA synthesis or methylation caused by low and high levels of folate respectively, which has been observed to affect development and fitness in mammals. However, the faster development seen in the 0% folate flies is unexpected. This occurrence could be due to alternate pathways or adaptations not observed in mammals. Supported by NSF IOB-0419704 to JH and NSF HRD-0602425 to ASU.