title: Development and characterization of a chemically defined food for Drosophila.
abstract: Diet can affect a spectrum of biological processes ranging from behavior to cellular metabolism. Yet, the precise role of an individual dietary constituent can be a difficult variable to isolate experimentally. A chemically defined food (CDF) permits the systematic evaluation of individual macro- and micronutrients. In addition, CDF facilitates the direct comparison of data obtained independently from different laboratories. Here, we report the development and characterization of a CDF for Drosophila. We show that CDF can support the long-term culture of laboratory strains and demonstrate that this formulation has utility in isolating macronutrient from caloric density requirements in studies of development, longevity and reproduction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Wen-Chih
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Craig A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Micchelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005526:Food, Formulated / Q000032:analysis*; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology*; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000737:chemistry; D009751:Nutritional Requirements / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D015053:Zygote / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients