Neglecting larval rearing conditions in Drosophila melanogaster can negatively impact research on ageing

Eric Le Bourg (1)

1 CRCA - Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale - UMR5169

The developmental conditions of Drosophila melanogaster flies can modify the phenotypic traits of adults. However, the control of these conditions is neglected by some authors in their articles and the readers are unaware, for instance, whether flies developed in crowded cultures or fed on a new or used medium. Controlling developmental conditions allows to know precisely the viability of flies, their duration of development and sex-ratio, which can be warning signals of bad rearing conditions. As developmental conditions can modify the results of experiments on the effects of ageing it is necessary to strictly control them.

Mots clés: Drosophila melanogaster; early life; rearing conditions; larval density; viability; duration of development

Domaines: Embryologie et organogenèse; Zoologie des invertébrés; Gériatrie et gérontologie

Eric Le Bourg. Neglecting larval rearing conditions in Drosophila melanogaster can negatively impact research on ageing. Biogerontology, 2021, 22 (3), pp.369-373. ⟨10.1007/s10522-021-09917-y⟩. ⟨hal-03212068⟩