Quantification of Macronutrients Intake in a Thermogenetic Neuronal Screen using Drosophila Larvae

Summary

Described here is a protocol that enables the colorimetric quantification of the amount of food eaten within a defined interval of time by Drosophila melanogaster larvae exposed to diets of different macronutrient quality. These assays are conducted in the context of a neuronal thermogenetic screen.

Abstract

Foraging and feeding behaviors allow animals to access sources of energy and nutrients essential for their development, health, and fitness. Investigating the neuronal regulation of these behaviors is essential for the understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying nutritional homeostasis. The use of genetically tractable animal models such as worms, flies, and fish greatly facilitates these types of studies. In the last decade, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a powerful animal model by neurobiologists investigating the neuronal control of feeding and foraging behaviors. While undoubtedly valuable, most studies examine adult flies. Here, we describe a protocol that takes advantage of the simpler larval nervous system to investigate neuronal substrates controlling feeding behaviors when larvae are exposed to diets differing in their protein and carbohydrates content. Our methods are based on a quantitative colorimetric no-choice feeding assay, performed in the context of a neuronal thermogenetic-activation screen. As a read-out, the amount of food eaten by larvae over a 1 h interval was used when exposed to one of the three dye-labeled diets that differ in their protein to carbohydrates (P:C) ratios. The efficacy of this protocol is demonstrated in the context of a neurogenetic screen in larval Drosophila, by identifying candidate neuronal populations regulating the amount of food eaten in diets of different macronutrient quality. We were also able to classify and group the genotypes tested into phenotypic classes. Besides a brief review of the currently available methods in the literature, the advantages and limitations of these methods are discussed and, also, some suggestions are provided about how this protocol might be adapted to other specific experiments.

Introduction

All animals depend on a balanced diet to acquire the necessary amounts of nutrients for survival, growth, and reproduction¹. The choice of what and how much to eat is influenced by a multitude of interacting factors related to the internal state of the animal, like the satiety level, and environmental conditions, such as food quality^2,3,4,5. Protein and carbohydrates are two major macronutrients and its balanced intake is essential to sustain animals’ physiological processes. Therefore, the understanding of the ....

Protocol

1. Preparation of the sucrose-yeast (SY) diets

1. Weigh all the dry ingredients (agar, yeast, sucrose) for the macronutrient balancing and L3 rearing diets. The amounts in grams for each of the ingredients needed to prepare 1 L of food are indicated in Figure 1B.
   NOTE: Take into account that approximately 13 mL of food is needed to fill a 60-mm Petri dish.
2. Dissolve all ingredients in sterile distilled water (use approximately 50% of the total volume of water needed .......

Discussion

With this protocol, one could test the ability of larvae under thermogenetic-activation of specific neuronal populations to regulate the intake levels of protein and carbohydrates, two major macronutrients, when exposed to diets of different P:C composition. This method was tested in the context of a larval preliminary screening aiming to identify neuronal populations associated with the control of food intake across diets of different macronutrient quality. This work also contributes to demonstrating that Drosophila.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1.5 mL microtubes	Sarstedt AG & Co.	72.690.001
10xPBS	Nytech	MB18201
2.0 mL microtubes	Sarstedt AG & Co.	72.695.500
60 mm petri dishes	Greiner Bio-one, Austria	628161
96 well microplates	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-204453
Agar	Pró-vida, Portugal
Bench cooler	Nalgene, USA	Labtop Cooler 5115-0032
Blue food dye	Rayner, Billingshurst, UK
Cell disruption media	Scientific Industries, Inc.	888-850-6208	(0.5 mm glass beads)
Dish weight boats	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-201606
Embryo collection cage for 60 mm petri dishes	Flystuff, Scientific Laboratory Supplies, UK	FLY1212 (59-100)
Featherweight forceps	BioQuip Products, USA	4750
Fly food for stocks maintenance			1 L food contains: 10 g Agar, 100 g Yeast Extract, 50 g Sucrose, 30 mL Nipagin, 3 mL propionic acid
Forceps #5	Dumont	0108-5-PS	Standard tips, INOX, 11cm
Incubator	LMS Ltd, UK	Series 2, Model 230	For thermogenetic feeding assay (30∘C)
Incubator	Percival Scientific, USA	DR36NL	To stage larvae (19∘C)
Janelia lines	Janelia Research Campus		Detailed information in Table 2
Macronutrient balancing diets			Composition and nutritional information in Figure 1
Methanol	VWR	CAS number: 67-56-1
Nipagin (Methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate)	Sigma-Aldrich	H5501
Nitrile gloves	VWR, USA
Refrigerated centrifuge	Eppendorf, Germany	5804 R / Serial number: 5805CI364293
Rubin Gal4 ines	Janelia Research Campus		Stoks available at Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center
ShibireTS UAS line	Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center	BDSC number: 66600	Provided by Carlos Ribeiro Group
Soft brushes			For sorting anaesthetised fruit flies
Spectrophotometer plate reader	Thermo Fisher Scientific	Multiskan Go 51119300
Stereo microscope	Nikon	1016625
Sucrose	Sidul, Portugal
Third-instar larvae (L3) rearing diet			Composition and nutritional information in Figure 1
Timer
Tissue lyzer / bead beater	MP Biomedicals, USA	FastPrep-24 6004500
TRPA1 UAS line	Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center	BDSC number: 26264	Expresses TrpA1 under UAS control; may be used to activate neurons experimentally at 25 ∘C
Water bath	Sheldon Manufacturing Inc., USA	W20M-2 / 03068308 / 9021195
Yeast extract	Pró-vida, Portugal		51% Protein, 15% Carbohydrate