Dietary lithium stimulates female fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster

Dietary lithium (0.1 –5 mM LiCl) improved the lithium status of the female fruit flyDrosophila melanogaster and substantially increased egg production. These findings were accompanied by alterations in mRNA levels of genes encoding proteins involved with chorion formation and yolk protein biosynthesis, which are essential steps inDrosophila oogenesis. (Image created withBioRender.com). AbstractThe trace element lithium exerts a versatile bioactivity in humans, to some extend overlapping with in vivo findings in the model organismDrosophila melanogaster. A potentially essential function of lithium in reproduction has been suggested since the 1980s and multiple studies have since been published postulating a regulatory role of lithium in female gametogenesis. However, the impact of lithium on fruit fly egg production has not been at the center of attention to date. In the present study, we report that dietary lithium (0.1 –5.0 mM LiCl) substantially improved life time egg production inD. melanogaster w1118 females, with a maximum increase of plus 45% when supplementing 1.0  mM LiCl. This phenomenon was not observed in the insulin receptor mutantInRE19, indicating a potential involvement of insulin-like signaling in the lithium-mediated fecundity boost. Analysis of the whole-body and ovarian transcriptome revealed that dietary lithium affects the mRNA levels of genes encoding proteins related to processes of follicular maturation. To the best of our knowledge, this is ...
Source: BioFactors - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research