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The seesaw of diet restriction and lifespan: lessons from Drosophila studies

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Abstract

Diet restriction (DR) studies undergo the implementation of reduced single or multiple component/s of the fly food without causing malnutrition. The question of how and why DR modifies the fate of lifespan in fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster has prompted us to emphasize by attending the control food composition first. Certain concentrations of DR food do not always confer an extended lifespan, rather it enables the flies to achieve their normal lifespan, which was probably reduced by the control food per se (having toxic effect caused due to the excess levels of dietary components). However, the current paradigm of DR studies has elicited its benefits and losses via trade-offs in the organismal traits and have highlighted the need for a common diet, but have not claimed the tested diets as balanced. So, the DR effect on lifespan and other fitness traits cannot be justified only based on varying control food across labs and hence, the approach of DR studies has to be revisited and a balanced diet has to be formulated. The current article discusses the need for a balanced diet, the traits to be considered before designing a diet, and certain problems in the existing synthetic medium. Therefore, based on the control food composition, the validity of lifespan extension conferred by these nutrient restricted diets need to be accounted for.

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We confirm that the current manuscript comprises only the data which are present in the main manuscript file and do not contain any further associated data.

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Acknowledgements

We thank two anonymous reviewers for their careful reading and inputs to improve the final version of the manuscript.

Funding

S.K. acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology- Government of India, for the INSPIRE fellowship (IF170750). P.Y. acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board (File No.-CRG/2019/003184), Department of Science and Technology- Government of India, India for the financial support and SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur (TN), India for the infrastructure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fly Laboratory # 210, Anusandhan Kendra-II, School of Chemical & Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, 613401, India

    Sudhakar Krittika & Pankaj Yadav

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  1. Sudhakar Krittika
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  2. Pankaj Yadav
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SK & PY conceived the idea. SK wrote the initial versions of the text with help from PY and both authors corrected, read and approved the final versions of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pankaj Yadav.

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Krittika, S., Yadav, P. The seesaw of diet restriction and lifespan: lessons from Drosophila studies. Biogerontology 22, 253–259 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-021-09912-3

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