Type II diabetes is a disease where the body does not respond to insulin effectively. Numerous studies suggest that fine particulate matter ≤ 2.5 microns (PM2.5) increases type II diabetes risk. Studies have shown that the gut microbiota also influences glucose levels. To explore how these factors interact, I used Drosophila melanogaster to model the effects streptomycin and ingested PM2.5 on whole body glucose. My hypothesis was that PM2.5 would increase glucose, and that streptomycin would decrease glucose levels by reducing the gut microbiota.

The variables were the amount of PM2.5 (1.54 ug or 0.768 ug/mL) in the media (food) and streptomycin presence. After four days of exposure, groups of ten flies were prepared and their glucose was measured using a glucose assay kit.

My data showed increasing PM2.5 resulted in higher amounts of whole-body glucose. The streptomycin lowered the glucose in flies exposed to PM2.5. I used a two-way Anova test, and found that the PM2.5 significantly increase whole-body glucose compared to the control flies and flies exposed to streptomycin only.

To verify whether low levels of PM2.5 also have a significant effect on the levels of glucose in D.melanogaster, more samples need to be taken. To better understand the effect of streptomycin on glucose levels, flies could be exposed to antibiotic food from the beginning of their life cycle, or a gut microbiome analysis could be performed to quantify the effects of streptomycin.