Novel Regulators of Sugar-dependent Food Consumption in Drosophila melanogaster

Genome-wide association in Drosophila melanogaster DGRP lines links sugar-dependent feeding to largely separate genetic control across low- versus high-sugar diets, with 161 variants in 118 candidate genes.

• Why it matters: Diet and genotype jointly shape feeding, but the specific genetic regulators of how sugar content changes consumption are not well defined.
• What they did: Using the Con-Ex assay on low- and high-sugar foods in 176 DGRP lines, the study estimated heritability (0.53–0.66) and ran GWAS across six sex- and diet-specific phenotypes, then tested candidate genes by RNAi knockdown.
• The result: CG42673 and Tmtc2 knockdown increased consumption across sexes and diets, and the effect was reproduced in independent experiments, supporting their role as regulators of sugar-based feeding.

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