A microarray analysis of genes involved in relating egg production to nutritional intake in Drosophila melanogaster

• Published in: Cell death and differentiation Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. 429 - 440
• Main Authors: Terashima, J, Bownes, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.05.2005
• Subjects: Animal Feed; Animals; Apoptosis; Biology; Cell death; Decision making; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - physiology; Eggs; Female; Females; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes, Insect; Hormones; Insects; Microarray Analysis; Models, Biological; Nutrients; Nutrition; Oogenesis - genetics; Oogenesis - physiology; Ovaries; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1350-9047; 1476-5403
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.cdd.4401587

Egg chambers of Drosophila are reabsorbed under conditions of nutritional shortage by inducing apoptosis at stages 8 and 9, midway through oogenesis. Nutritional shortage leads to an increase in ecdysone concentration in flies. Apoptosis at stage 8/9 is also induced by 20-hydroxyecdysone injection into the females maintained with adequate nutrition. The expression pattern in the ovary of some ecdysone response genes, E75A, BR-C, is different according to the nutritional environment and the overexpression of these genes induces apoptosis. Apoptosis is suppressed by Juvenile hormone analog treatment of females under nutritional shortage. We predict nutritional and stress response genes control hormone levels and the increase in ecdysone concentration in the flies following starvation induces the ovarian apoptosis. We therefore used a microarray approach to identify the genes involved in receiving the nutritional signal from the environment and translating it in the ovary, thus initiating and executing apoptosis.