Mating reconciles fitness and fecundity by switching diet preference in flies

Chenxi Liu (), Ning Tian, Pei Chang and Wei Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Chenxi Liu: Tsinghua University
Ning Tian: Tsinghua University
Pei Chang: Tsinghua University
Wei Zhang: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Protein-rich diets shorten lifespan but increase fecundity in many organisms. Animals actively adjust their feeding behavior to meet their nutritional requirements. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the dynamic regulation of protein consumption remain unclear. Here we find that both sexes of fruit flies exhibit a preference for protein food before mating to prepare for reproduction. Mated female flies display an increased appetite for yeast to benefit their offspring, albeit at the cost of stress resistance and lifespan. In contrast, males show a momentarily reduced yeast appetite after mating likely to restore their fitness. This mating state-dependent switch between sexes is mediated by a sexually dimorphic neural circuit labeled with leucokinin in the anterior brain. Furthermore, intermittent yeast consumption benefits both the lifespan and fecundity of males, while maximizing female fecundity without compromising lifespan.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54369-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54369-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54369-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().