Effects of Parental Dietary Restriction on Offspring Fitness in Drosophila melanogaster

This study investigated intergenerational effects of parental dietary restriction (DR) on offspring fitness in Drosophila melanogaster, measuring lifespan, stress resistance, development, body weight, fecundity, and feeding rate. Offspring of DR-fed parents exhibited significantly extended lifespan compared to offspring of fully fed parents. Both male and female offspring from DR parents showed greater resistance to heat shock, starvation, and oxidative stress, except for starvation resistance in males. DR parents produced heavier offspring at birth, but body weight differences disappeared by seven days. Parental DR reduced food intake in male but not female offspring. No differences were observed in developmental viability or developmental time between groups. The sir2 gene expression did not increase in DR offspring. These results suggest parental DR induces adaptive parental effects via hormesis and the thrifty phenotype hypothesis, potentially through epigenetic mechanisms, though the precise molecular pathways remain to be elucidated.