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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
Electrophysiological Recording of The Central Nervous System Activity of Third-Instar Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: November 21, 2018
Non-Nutritive Polyol Sweeteners Differ in Insecticidal Activity When Ingested by Adult Drosophila melanogaster
Sean O'Donnell1, Kaitlin Baudier2, Daniel R Marenda3
1Department of Biodiversity Earth and Environmental Science, Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA, so356@drexel.edu.
Abstract:
Previous work showed the non-nutritive polyol sweetener Erythritol was toxic when ingested by Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen, 1930). This study assessed whether insect toxicity is a general property of polyols. Among tested compounds, toxicity was highest for erythritol. Adult fruit flies (D. melanogaster) fed erythritol had reduced longevity relative to controls. Other polyols did not reduce longevity; the only exception was a weaker but significant reduction of female (but not male) longevity when flies were fed D-mannitol. We conclude at least some non-nutritive polyols are not toxic to adult D. melanogaster when ingested for 17 days. The longer time course (relative to erythritol) and female specificity of D-mannitol mortality suggests different mechanisms for D-mannitol and erythritol toxicity to D. melanogaster.
