Meeting 11:
16 December 2021
RESEARCH SEMINAR
Title: Experimental adaptation to larval undernutrition in Drosophila and its consequences for adult metabolism
Speaker: Prof. Tadeusz Kawecki, University of Lausanne
Timing: 16 December 2021 3PM-4PM IST
Abstract
Undernutrition during development has profound effects on adult metabolism directly on the affected individuals, but little is known on how such responses are shaped over evolutionary time, despite the importance of nutritional environment as a force of natural selection on animal physiology. We use experimental evolution in Drosophila melanogaster to study how animals adapt to chronic juvenile undernutrition. I will describe some of the larval adaptations associated with the evolution of improved tolerance to larval undernutrition evolved in the course of >200 generations by replicated populations of Drosophila. This experimental adaptation resulted in profound changes in adult metabolism, despite the fact that during the experimental evolution nutrient limitation was limited to the larval stage. These result suggest the existence of constraints on independent evolution of larval and adult metabolism.