The role of genetic variation in shaping phenotypic responses to diet in aging Drosophila melanogaster
Data files
Sep 25, 2025 version files 1.07 MB
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healthspan_data.xlsx
282.37 KB
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lifespan_data.xlsx
784.05 KB
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README.md
1.66 KB
Abstract
Nutrition is vital for healthy living, yet individual responses to dietary interventions vary widely, complicating our understanding of its effects. Using the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP), we investigated how genetic variation influences responses to diet and aging. We conducted quantitative genetic analyses on lifespan, locomotor activity, dry weight, and heat knockdown time (HKDT), all measured in the same individual flies under control and restricted diets. Flies on the restricted diet exhibited significantly reduced lifespan and dry weight at both 7 and 16 days of age, but showed increased locomotor activity. HKDT was found to be age-dependent. Importantly, we identified significant genotype-by-diet (GDI), genotype-by-age (GAI), and genotype-by-age-by-diet (GADI) interactions across all traits, indicating that both environmental and genetic factors shape trait variation across age and diet. A genome-wide association study revealed a quantita tive trait locus associated with age-dependent dietary response. These findings suggest that genetic susceptibility to environmental influences, such as diet, changes with age. Our results provide new insights into the genetic architecture underlying dietary responses and aging in Drosophila melanogaster, with potential implications for developing personalized dietary interventions to promote healthy aging in humans. The identification of DNA sequence variants linked to age-specific dietary effects opens new avenues for exploring the molecular mechanisms driving these interactions.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0zpc8679m
Description of the data and file structure
Files and variables
File: healthspan_data.xlsx
Description:
Variables
- age: Age of the flies in days.
- diet: Diet type.
- c = control diet.
- r = restricted diet.
- line: DGRP line number.
- rep: Technical replicate identifier (A, B, or C). These labels were randomly assigned to three flasks per line and diet. Note: Replicate labels are not consistent across lines or diets. For example, Rep A of line 303 on a control diet is not more related to Rep A of line 313 than to Rep B of line 313.
- monitor: Identifier of the monitor used.
- row: Row number within the monitor.
- position: Position within the monitor.
- dw - Dry weight of the fly, measured in micrograms.
- activity - Locomotor activity, measured as the average number of times per minute a fly crossed the laser beam in the Drosophila Activity Monitor (DAM) system over a 6 hour period.
- hkdt - Heat knockdown time, measured in minutes.
If zero counts were observed throughout the locomotor activity assay and hkdt assay, the fly was assumed to be dead. In such cases, the corresponding cell are filled with NA rather than zero.
File: lifespan_data.xlsx
Description:
Variables
- diet, line, rep: See description under healthspan_data.xlsx
- event: Survival status coding.
- 1 = fly died
- 0 = censored (fly removed or lost before death)
- age: Age of the fly at death or censoring, in days.
