The effect of dietary restriction on developmental time in Drosophila melanogaster and its sibling D. simulans

We investigated developmental time difference in response to dietary restriction (DR) in two sibling species, Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans, which were collected at the same time from two different localities in Turkey. Different diets used in this experiment were: standard (C), sugar reduced (DR-S), yeast reduced (DR-Y), and sugar with yeast reduced (DR-SY) diets. When the species developmental times in response to different DR were analyzed, both of the species showed the same pattern. We did not observe significant difference in relation to developmental time between different populations of D. melanogaster whereas two D. simulans populations showed significant developmental time differences. As a major result, egg-to-pupa developmental time was observed to be prolonged-mostly due to yeast restriction.