Optimization of Dietary Restriction Protocols in Drosophila

Optimization of dietary restriction protocols in Drosophila.

Dietary restriction (DR) extends life span in many organisms, through unknown mechanisms that may or may not be evolutionarily conserved. Because different laboratories use different diets and techniques for implementing DR, the outcomes may not be strictly comparable. This complicates intra- and interspecific comparisons of the mechanisms of DR and is therefore central to the use of model orga...

Effect of Dietary Restriction on Muscle Performance in Drosophila

Demography of dietary restriction and death in Drosophila.

Dietary restriction (DR) increases life-span in organisms from yeast to mammals, presumably by slowing the accumulation of aging-related damage. Here we show that in Drosophila, DR extends life-span entirely by reducing the short-term risk of death. Two days after the application of DR at any age for the first time, previously fully fed flies are no more likely to die than flies of the same age...

The functional costs and benefits of dietary restriction in Drosophila.

Dietary restriction (DR) extends lifespan in an impressively wide array of species spanning three eukaryotic kingdoms. In sharp contrast, relatively little is known about the effects of DR on functional senescence, with most of the work having been done on mice and rats. Here we used Drosophila melanogaster to test the assumption that lifespan extension through DR slows down age-related functio...

Establishing a role for specific nutrients in Drosophila dietary restriction

Background: Outcomes of lifespan studies in model organisms are particularly susceptible to variations in technicalprocedures. This is especially true of dietary restriction, which is implemented in many different ways among laboratories. Principal Findings: In this study, we have examined the effect of laboratory stock maintenance, genotype differences andmicrobial infection on the abi...