March 14, 2017 Naturally, fruit flies feed on ripe fruits. A diet which matches the insects' amino acid composition makes the flies to grow even faster. Credit: MPI f. Biology of Ageing\/ Grnke <\/p>\n
A moderate reduction in food intake, known as dietary restriction, protects against multiple ageing-related diseases and extends life span, but can also supress growth and fertility. A research group from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne has now developed a diet based on the model organism's genome, which enhances growth and fecundity with no costs to lifespan. <\/p>\n
What is the best path to a long and healthy life? Scientists had a relatively simple answer for many years: less food. But it turned out that this could have unpleasant consequences. Experiments showed that putting flies or mice on diet could impair their development and fecundity. How could we take advantage of the beneficial effects of dieting, and at the same time avoid the damaging effects? <\/p>\n
Genome-based diet <\/p>\n
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing in London have now designed a diet based on the model organism's genome. In the study they calculated the amount of amino acids a fruit fly would need, thereby defining the diet's amino acid composition. <\/p>\n
\"The fly genome is entirely known. For our studies we used only the sections in the genetic material that serve as templates for protein assembly - the exons, which collectively make up the 'exome'. Then we calculated the relative abundance of each amino acid in the exome, and designed a fly diet that reflects this amino acid composition,\" explains George Soultoukis, scientist in the department of Linda Partridge, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing in London. <\/p>\n
Using a holidic fly diet previously developed by the team to enable manipulation of individual nutrients such as amino acids, the group found that flies eating this exome-matched diet develop a lot faster, grow bigger in size, and lay more eggs compared to flies fed a standard diet. Remarkably, the flies on the exome-matched diet lived as long as slower-growing, fewer-egg-laying flies fed with \"standard\" diets. \"The flies that had free access to the exome-matched diet even ate less than controls. Thus, high quality protein, as defined by the genome, appears to have a higher satiety value,\" said Matthew Piper, who conducted the work at UCL and is now working at Monash University. <\/p>\n
The study also found that similar phenomena may occur in mice, and future mouse work could further improve our understanding of how and why diets affect mammalian lifespan. \"Our aim now is to characterize the effects of genome-based diets upon mammalian lifespan,\" says Soultoukis. <\/p>\n
Human diet <\/p>\n
In theory this approach is applicable to all organisms with a sequenced genome including humans. Soultoukis explains: \"Dietary interventions based on amino acids can be a powerful strategy for protecting human health. Obviously factors such as age, gender, health, and personal lifestyle also have to be taken into account. Future studies may still employ novel -omics data to design diets whose amino acid supply matches the needs of an organism with even higher precision. Understanding why we need amino acids in the amounts we do will be key, and such studies provide novel and powerful insights into the vital interactions between nature and nurture.\" <\/p>\n
Explore further: High-sugar diet programs a short lifespan in flies <\/p>\n
More information: Matthew D.W. Piper et al. Matching Dietary Amino Acid Balance to the In Silico-Translated Exome Optimizes Growth and Reproduction without Cost to Lifespan, Cell Metabolism (2017). DOI: 10.1016\/j.cmet.2017.02.005<\/p>\n
Journal reference: Cell Metabolism <\/p>\n
Provided by: Max Planck Society <\/p>\n
Flies with a history of eating a high sugar diet live shorter lives, even after their diet improves. This is because the unhealthy diet drives long-term reprogramming of gene expression, according to a UCL-led team of researchers. <\/p>\n
Getting the correct balance of proteins in our diet may be more important for healthy ageing than reducing calories, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust and Research into Ageing suggests. <\/p>\n
Regaining weight after weight loss is usually undesirable, but is this 'yo-yo effect' actually bad for your health? Scientists from Wageningen University recently investigated the influence of diet on the lifespan of fruit ... <\/p>\n
Fruit flies deprived of specific essential nutrients alter their food choicesand even the way they search for food. A team of neuroscientists, led by researchers from the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, \"dissected\" ... <\/p>\n
Aphids suck up an almost endless supply of sugary sap from their plant hosts. They can survive on this junk food diet because bacterial partners help them convert the handful of amino acids in the sap into other, essential ... <\/p>\n
Fruit flies live 16% longer than average when given low doses of the mood stabiliser lithium, according to a UCL-led study. <\/p>\n
For decades, the tiny roundworm C. elegans has been a vital tool in the biomedical researcher's toolkit, proving central to groundbreaking discoveries such as green fluorescent protein, the molecular marker used universally ... <\/p>\n
Good vs bad cholesterol. Margarine vs butter. Red meat vs. vegan. The causal links between fats and health have been a hotly debated topic for scientists, physicians and the public. <\/p>\n
Big, small, broad, narrow, long or short, turned up, pug, hooked, bulbous or prominent, humans inherit their nose shape from their parents, but ultimately, the shape of someone's nose and that of their parents was formed ... <\/p>\n
A team of Dutch and German researchers has discovered the operation of one of the oldest biological clocks in the world, which is crucial for life on earth as we know it. The researchers applied a new combination of cutting-edge ... <\/p>\n
New work from a joint team of plant biologists and ecologists from Carnegie and Stanford University has uncovered the factor behind an important innovation that makes grassesboth the kind that make up native prairies and ... <\/p>\n
Tardigrades, the microscopic animals also known as water bears and moss piglets, have captured the imagination of scientists for almost 250 years, thanks to their Muppet-like appearance and their ability to survive extreme ... <\/p>\n
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More here: March 14, 2017 Naturally, fruit flies feed on ripe fruits. A diet which matches the insects' amino acid composition makes the flies to grow even faster Continue reading
\nGenome-based diets maximise growth, fecundity, and lifespan - Phys.Org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"