Postponed aging and desiccation resistance in Drosophila melanogaster

Studies with the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, have repeatedly shown that selection for postponed reproduction leads to increases in mean life span and increased stress resistance; including increased resistance to desiccation, starvation and ethanol vapors. We show that desiccation resistance declines with age in both short- and long-lived flies suggesting that desiccation resistance may serve as a useful biomarker for aging-related declines in physiological performance. We examined the physical basis of desiccation resistance in five replicate populations selected for postponed reproduction and five replicate control populations. The variables examined were water content, rates of water loss during desiccation, and water content at time of death due to desiccation. In the absence of desiccation stress, both the flies exhibiting postponed senescence and their controls maintained constant water content throughout their lifetimes. In the presence of desiccation stress, the short-lived flies showed significantly higher rates of water loss at all ages than did the long-lived flies. Flies from the two treatments did not differ in water content at death. Our results indicate that water loss rates are the major determinant of desiccation resistance. Water loss rates are under genetic control and covary with age in populations with genetically-determined postponed senescence.