In: Nature, 2009, vol. 462, no. 24, p. 989-990
Dietary restriction promotes longevity but impairs fecundity in many organisms. When the amino acids in a diet are fine-tuned, however, lifespan can be increased without loss of fecundity — at least in fruitflies.
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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,...
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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,...
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In: BioEssays, 2006, no. 28, p. 868-873
Whether evolutionary change can occur by genetic assimilation, or more generally by genetic accommodation, remains controversial. Here we examine some of the experimental evidence for both phenomena. Several experiments in Drosophila suggest that assimilation is possible, and a new paper1 shows that a color polyphenism in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, can evolve by genetic ...
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In: Evolution Letters, 2018, vol. 2, no. 6, p. 567–579
Much has been learned about the genetics of aging from studies in model organisms, but still little is known about naturally occurring alleles that contribute to variation in longevity. For example, analysis of mutants and transgenes has identified insulin signaling as a major regulator of longevity, yet whether standing variation in this pathway underlies microevolutionary changes in...
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In: Development Genes and Evolution, 2007, vol. 217, no. 3, p. 209-219
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In: Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2018, vol. 526, no. 1, p. 33–58
The subesophageal zone (SEZ) of the Drosophila brain processes mechanosensory and gustatory sensory input from sensilla located on the head, mouth cavity and trunk. Motor output from the SEZ directly controls the movements involved in feeding behavior. In an accompanying paper (Hartenstein et al., 2017), we analyzed the systems of fiber tracts and secondary lineages to establish reliable...
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In: Chemical Senses, 2006, vol. 32, no. 1, p. 65-89
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In: Developmental Biology, 2015, vol. 405, no. 2, p. 202–213
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In: Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2013, vol. 7, p. 105
The remarkable ability of the nervous system to modify its structure and function is mostly experience and activity modulated. The molecular basis of neuronal plasticity has been studied in higher behavioral processes, such as learning and memory formation. However, neuronal plasticity is not restricted to higher brain functions and it may provide a basic feature of adaptation of all neural...
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