Mitochondrial genetic effects mediate the response to stress through development, but not adult metabolic rate in Drosophila melanogaster
- 1Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Abstract
Energy expenditure is fundamental to physiology, behaviour, ecology and life history, yet the mechanisms that regulate metabolic rate remain poorly understood. At the cellular level, incompatibilities between the maternally inherited mitochondrial genome and the nuclear genome can impair energy production, signalling and gene expression, with potential to disrupt a wide range of physiological processes. However, how these often-subtle genomic mismatches influence whole-organism traits such as metabolic rate, activity and fitness remains unclear. Here, we generated mitonuclear-mismatched fly lines to test how early-life dietary and metabolic stress affect larval and adult physiology. Our results revealed sex- and line-specific physiological effects, with larval development, survival and female fertility strongly contingent on the haplotypes and treatment, while adult resting metabolic rate and activity were not influenced by mitochondrial haplotype, or by developmental stress.
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BibTeX
@article{chakraborty2026mitochondrial,
title = {{Mitochondrial genetic effects mediate the response to stress through development, but not adult metabolic rate in Drosophila melanogaster}},
author = {Avishikta Chakraborty and Enrique Rodríguez and Stefano Bettinazzi and Stefania Stroila and Nick Lane and M. Florencia Camus},
journal = {The Journal of Experimental Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1242/jeb.253155},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.253155},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mitochondrial genetic effects mediate the response to stress through development, but not adult metabolic rate in Drosophila melanogaster
AU - Avishikta Chakraborty
AU - Enrique Rodríguez
AU - Stefano Bettinazzi
AU - Stefania Stroila
AU - Nick Lane
AU - M. Florencia Camus
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
JO - The Journal of Experimental Biology
DO - 10.1242/jeb.253155
UR - https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.253155
AB - Energy expenditure is fundamental to physiology, behaviour, ecology and life history, yet the mechanisms that regulate metabolic rate remain poorly understood. At the cellular level, incompatibilities between the maternally inherited mitochondrial genome and the nuclear genome can impair energy production, signalling and gene expression, with potential to disrupt a wide range of physiological processes. However, how these often-subtle genomic mismatches influence whole-organism traits such as metabolic rate, activity and fitness remains unclear. Here, we generated mitonuclear-mismatched fly lines to test how early-life dietary and metabolic stress affect larval and adult physiology. Our results revealed sex- and line-specific physiological effects, with larval development, survival and female fertility strongly contingent on the haplotypes and treatment, while adult resting metabolic rate and activity were not influenced by mitochondrial haplotype, or by developmental stress.
SN - 0022-0949
SN - 1477-9145
ER -