Measuring the repertoire of age-related behavioral changes in Drosophila melanogaster

Aging affects almost all aspects of an organism -- its morphology, its physiology, its behavior. Isolating which biological mechanisms are regulating these changes, however, has proven difficult, potentially due to our inability to characterize the full repertoire of an animal's behavior across...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Overman, Katherine E, Choi, Daniel M, Leung, Kawai, Shaevitz, Joshua W, Berman, Gordon J
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 15.06.2021
Subjects
Aging
Behavior
Energy budget
Fruit flies
Morphology
Physics - Biological Physics
Quantitative Biology - Quantitative Methods
Sexual dimorphism
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Aging affects almost all aspects of an organism -- its morphology, its physiology, its behavior. Isolating which biological mechanisms are regulating these changes, however, has proven difficult, potentially due to our inability to characterize the full repertoire of an animal's behavior across the lifespan. Using data from fruit flies (D. melanogaster) we measure the full repertoire of behaviors as a function of age. We observe a sexually dimorphic pattern of changes in the behavioral repertoire during aging. Although the stereotypy of the behaviors and the complexity of the repertoire overall remains relatively unchanged, we find evidence that the observed alterations in behavior can be explained by changing the fly's overall energy budget, suggesting potential connections between metabolism, aging, and behavior.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2106.07610