Université de Fribourg

Hormonal regulation of the humoral innate immune response in Drosophila melanogaster

Flatt, Thomas ; Heyland, Andreas ; Rus, Florentina ; Porpiglia, Ermelinda ; Sherlock, Chris ; Yamamoto, Rochele ; Garbuzov, Alina ; Palli, Subba R. ; Tatar, Marc ; Silverman, Neal

In: The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2008, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 2712-2724

Juvenile hormone (JH) and 20-hydroxy-ecdysone (20E) are highly versatile hormones, coordinating development, growth, reproduction and aging in insects. Pulses of 20E provide key signals for initiating developmental and physiological transitions, while JH promotes or inhibits these signals in a stage-specific manner. Previous evidence suggests that JH and 20E might modulate innate immunity,...

Université de Fribourg

Counting calories in Drosophila diet restriction

Min, Kyung-Jin ; Flatt, Thomas ; Kulaots, Indrek ; Tatar, Marc

In: Experimental Gerontology, 2006, vol. 42, no. 3, p. 247-251

The extension of life span by diet restriction in Drosophila has been argued to occur without limiting calories. Here we directly measure the calories assimilated by flies when maintained on full- and restricted-diets. We find that caloric intake is reduced on all diets that extend life span. Flies on low-yeast diet are long-lived and consume about half the calories of flies on high-yeast diets,...