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Chaston Lab

Altered Regulation of Sleep and Feeding Contributes to Starvation Resistance in Drosophila Melanogaster

By generating starvation- resistant flies through experimental evolution, these researchers at UNLV were able to more closely observe the relationships between sleep behavior, feeding, foraging, and starvation resistance. Because sleep and feeding are related to metabolic rates, they could potentially contribute to Drosophila melanogaster resistance under starvation conditions. The flies used in this experiment have been bred over 60 generations in order to become starvation resistant. These flies were bred on an agar diet that was devoid of calories, and live around 18 days when under starvation conditions. Flies that have not been selected for starvation resistance survive around 2-3 days.