Phenomenon of life span instability in Drosophila melanogaster: II. Change in rhythm of natural variations of life span after single exposure to gamma-irradiation

Endoreduplication in Drosophila melanogaster progeny after exposure to acute γ-irradiation

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of acute γ-irradiation of parent adults on the endoreduplication of giant chromosomes in F₁ generation of Drosophila melanogaster Meig. A wild-type Oregon-R strain was used as the material. Virgin females and males of Drosophila adults at the age of 3 days were irradiated with doses of 8, 16 and 25 Gy. Giant chromosomes were studied by cytomorphometry on squashed preparations of Drosophila salivary glands stained with acetoorsein. The preparations were obtained at late third instar larvae. The mean values of the polyteny degree of chromosomes (PDC) in males increased after 8 Gy by 10.6%, after 25 Gy by 7.4%, and did not change after the dose of 16 Gy. In females, the PDC did not differ from the control irrespective of the irradiation dose. An increase in endoreduplication was also evidenced by the accelerated development of offsprings of both sexes after irradiation of parents with 25 Gy, and in males also at a dose of 16 Gy. The statistical impact of power of radiation on polyteny was 26.8%, while the impact of sex was 4.9%. The impact of power of radiation on the developmental rate of offspring was 4.4% in males and 7.5% in females. The enhancement of endoreduplication is considered as a consequence of increasing selection pressure after irradiation. The possible involvement of epigenetic effects in the effect of ionizing radiation on endoreduplication is discussed.

Correlations of life-span variation parameters in 128 successive generations of Drosophila melanogaster with changes in atmospheric pressure and geomagnetic activity

Correlations between the parameters of life-span (LS) distribution of Drosophila melanogaster, including mean LS (MLS) and the time of 10 and 90% population mortality, and some geophysical parameters that are usually beyond the control of researchers dealing with laboratory cultures, including atmospheric pressure, solar activity indices (Wolf's sunspot numbers and 2,800-MHz radio flux), and geomagnetic activity (planetary index, K(p)), were studied. Geophysical data were obtained from free-access official web sites of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration of the US Department of Commerce and the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism and Radiowave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The geophysical parameters were calculated only for the period corresponding to 10 days of preimaginal development of the flies from egg to imago. Canonical correlation analysis, calculation of the non-parametric Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients, and graphical data analysis were used. Highly significant correlations between parameters of LS distribution in males and females and environmental factors, such as the atmospheric pressure on the 4th and 5th day of development and geomagnetic activity indices (K(p)) on the 6th and 10th day of development were found, with correlation coefficients varying from 0.31 to 0.37 (P<0.02). Assuming a causal relationship between geophysical factors and LS, it may be hypothesized that energetically weak environmental factors determine the formation of LS oscillatory dynamics in laboratory populations. The possible mechanisms underlying the contribution of these environmental factors to the LS variation in successive generations are discussed.

Geroprotector efficiency depends on viability of control population: life span investigation in D. melanogaster

Ability of the radical spin trap 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-l-piperidine-N-oxyl (4-hydroxy-TemPO, (4HT)), to delay senescence in D. melanogaster has been studied. The spin trap, at a concentration of 0.2%, was added to the culture medium at the flies development stage. Reliable correlation (r = 0.76, P < 0.05) has been found between the viability of a control population, assessed by the mean life span (LS) value, and the level of LS alteration after geroprotector treatment in a corresponding experimental population. Thereby the local minimum values and local decreases in the mean LS in successive generations of the control line are associated most likely with LS extension effects in the corresponding experimental groups after 4HT treatment, and on the contrary, the local maximum values and local increases in the mean LS of the control line are associated more probably either with LS decreasing effects in the corresponding experimental groups or with the lack of significant differences between the control and experimental groups. A possible mechanism of the discovered phenomenon is discussed, based on the concept about free-radical activity variations. A probability approach to the evaluation of geroprotector efficiency in serial studies is proposed.

Intrinsic time scaling in survival analysis: application to biological populations

A method of dimensionless time-scaling based on extrinsic expectation of life at birth but intrinsic to a system generating a survival distribution is introduced. Such scaling allows the survival fraction function and its associated mortality function to serve as Green's functions for their generalized equivalents, i.e., a "population" function and a "death" function. The analytical mechanics of utilizing these concepts are formulated, applied to the classical Gompertz and Weibull survival models, and discussed with respect to biological relevance.