QUEEN'S BIOLOGY MCIB SEMINAR SERIES
  • Home
  • Schedule
  • Contact

Seminar series of the Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Biology
research groups at Queen's University

Wed Nov 18 // Dr. Elizabeth Rideout // Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, University of British Columbia

11/13/2020

 
Picture

Dr. Elizabeth Rideout
​Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, UBC 

Molecular mechanisms of sex-specific body size plasticity in Drosophila

The ability to adjust body size in response to nutrients differs between the sexes in most species, including mammals. Yet the molecular mechanisms underlying this sex-specific body size plasticity remain unknown. In our work, we used the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying the sex difference in body size plasticity. Normally, the magnitude of the body size increase in response to a nutrient-rich diet is higher in female flies. We recently discovered that a nutrient-rich diet augments body size in females and not males because of a female-biased increase in activity of the conserved insulin signaling pathway. We further identified the factors that allow females, and not males, to augment insulin signaling in response to nutrients. This knowledge provides important evidence of how the insulin pathway can be regulated differently in each sex, and provides clues into why there are sex differences in so many phenotypes (e.g. lifespan) and diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes) associated with the insulin pathway.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Schedule
  • Contact