title: Parental age influences developmental stability of the progeny in Drosophila.
abstract: The stochastic nature of biochemical processes is a source of variability that influences developmental stability. Developmental instability (DI) is often estimated through fluctuating asymmetry (FA), a parameter that deals with within-individual variation in bilateral structures. A relevant goal is to shed light on how environment, physiology and genotype relate to DI, thus providing a more comprehensive view of organismal development. Using Drosophila melanogaster isogenic lines, we investigated the effect of parental age, parental diet and offspring heterozygosity on DI. In this work, we have uncovered a clear relationship between parental age and offspring asymmetry. We show that asymmetry of the progeny increases concomitantly with parental age. Moreover, we demonstrate that enriching the diet of parents mitigates the effect of age on offspring symmetry. We show as well that increasing the heterozygosity of the progeny eliminates the effect of parental age on offspring symmetry. Taken together, our results suggest that diet, genotype and age of the parents interact to determine offspring DI in wild populations. These findings provide us with an avenue to understand the mechanisms underlying DI.
authors: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, IEGEBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina.
authors: Betina
authors: B
authors: Colines
authors: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, IEGEBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina.
authors: Nahuel Cabrera
authors: NC
authors: Rodríguez
authors: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, IEGEBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina.
authors: Esteban R
authors: ER
authors: Hasson
authors: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, IEGEBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina.
authors: Valeria
authors: V
authors: Carreira
authors: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, IEGEBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina nfrankel@ege.fcen.uba.ar.
authors: Nicolás
authors: N
authors: Frankel
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D005121:Extremities / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D005260:Female; D006579:Heterozygote; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D055703:Reproductive Physiological Phenomena; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development
keywords: Drosophila; developmental instability; diet; fluctuating asymmetry; inbreeding; parental age