Researchers at the Francis Crick
Institute have discovered that some fruit flies can live over twice as long as
other Drosophila melanogaster. The
flies that are fed a low protein diet early in life, and are switched onto a
standard diet as adults, live longer. The researchers found that adult fruit
flies release toxic lipids from their skin that shorten their lifespan.
However, the lipids were found to be less toxic if the fly ate a low protein
diet early in life, before it became an adult. The lipids function to prevent
dehydration and stimulate mating behaviors.
The scientists also found that the
lipids produced by the flies affect the other flies that are near them. So, if
a fly is producing a more toxic lipid, they will have a shorter lifespan, and
so will the flies around them. Since
flies affect their neighbors, it causes fruit flies to have a shorter lifespan
when they are densely populated. However, when the flies were densely populated,
but were genetically modified to produce less toxic lipids, the flies lived
longer. Therefore, the scientists concluded that skin toxins cause the fruit
flies to have a shorter lifespan, individually and in large groups.
I thought that this article was
very interesting because it’s kind of counterintuitive. I would never have
thought that something that flies need would be causing them to have shorter
lifespans. The article states that humans also produce skin lipids to moisturize
and protect our skin. It makes me wonder if the lipids produced by humans are
toxic to us, and if there is a way to make them less toxic. If less toxic lipids cause fruit flies to have
longer lifespans, it could also have positive effects on humans.
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